Chhandas in vedas and error free accent : Every mantra in Rig Veda is called as a rik or ṛk, a Word of illumination. It is in one of several metres such as Gāyatrī, Anuṣhṭuph etc. The number of syllables or akṣharạs in the mantra determines the metre to which it belongs. The major metres are: Gāyatrī, Uṣhṇik, Anuṣhṭup, Bṛhatī, Pañgkti, Triṣhṭup and Jagatī. Sometimes the name Virāṭ replaces PanÆgkti. The mantrās 4 and 5 in the creation hymn RV (10.130) associate a cosmic power or devata with each metre as follows: Gāyatri, Agni; Uṣhṇik, Savitṛ; Anuṣhṭubh, Soma; Bṛhatī, Bṛhaspati; Virāṭ, Mitra and Varuṇa; Triṣhṭubh, Indra; , Vishvedevāḥ. Note that a mantra in a metre is divided into several pādās (or feet). Typically the number is 4. Gāyatrī and some of its variants have only 3 pādās. Some metres have eight pādās. In most books, the Gāyatri metre is described as one having exactly 24 akṣharạs. This is strictly incorrect. The Gāyatrī is really the name of a family of metres. The number of syllables varies from 26 to 19. Moreover there are some variations having 5 pādās. The Gāyatri family has about 11 variants, whose structures are 5|5|5|5|6, 5|5|5|4|6, 6|7|11, 7|7|7,7|6|7; 7|10|7, 6|7|8, 8|7|6, 6|6|6, 6|6|7, 7|6|6. We have omitted their names. The famous Gāyatrī mantra due to the riṣhi Vishvāmitrain RV (3.62.10) has only 23 letters. Even the classical reference book Anukramaṇika due to Kātyāyana calls the metre in it by the name Gāyatri only. Listing of Major Metres: Main metre Distribution Variants Total # mantrās Gāyatrī 8|8|8 10 2456 Uṣhṇik 8|8|12 7 398 Anuṣhṭup 8|8|8|8 7 850 Bṛhatī 8|8|12|8 11 427 Pañgkti 8|8|8|8|8 7 499 Triṣhṭup 11|11|11|11 14 4258 12|12|12|12 3 1353 Note the metre Pañgkti-Virāṭ has 40 akṣharạs with the distribution 10|10|10|10. Minor metres and their distributions. Number of mantrās Atijagati 12|12|12|8|8 17 Shakvarī 8|8|8|8|8|8|8 19 AtiShakvarī 16|16|12|8|8 10 Ashṭiḥ 16|16|16|8|8 7 Atyaṣhṭiḥ 12|12|8|8|8|12 82 Dhṛti 12|12|8|8|8|16|8 2 Ati Dhṛti 12|12|8|8|8|12|8|8 76 Accent Marks Every syllable is pronounced in one of three ways, udātta, anudātta and svarita. The printed text of RV indicates the pronunciation for each syllable by diacritical marks, a vertical line above the letter or a horizontal line below the letter. Fear-mongers want to create fear among the beginners by stating that a mistake in the pronunciation of the accent changes the meaning of the word drastically. In the Rig Veda having more than one hundred thousand words, the number of words whose meaning changes with accent marks is only about six. One example is: amati: splendour. It has two quite different meanings depending on the accent marks on the letters. splendour,ignorance (1.53.4), unconsciousness (4.11.6). The following quotation on the creative power of mantra from Sri Aurobindo is relevant: ‘‘In the system of the Mystics, which has partially survived in the schools of Indian Yoga, the Word is a power, the Word creates. For all creation is expression, everything exists already in the secret abode of the Infinite, guhāhitam, and has only to be brought out here in apparent form by the active consciousness. Ceṛtain schools of Vedic thought even suppose the worlds to have been created by the goddess Word and sound as first etheric vibration to have preceded formation. In the Veda itself there are passages which treat the poetic measures of the sacred mantrās, — Anuṣhṭubh, Triṣhṭubh, jagati, Gāyatri, — as symbolic of the rhythms in which the universal movement of things is cast.' ‘‘By expression then we create, and men are even said to create the gods in themselves by the mantra. Again, that which we have created in our consciousness by the Word, we can fix there by the Word to become part of ourselves and effective not only in our inner life but upon the outer physical world. By expression we form, by affirmation we establish. As a power of expression the word is termed gīḥ, or vāk; as a power of affirmation, stoma. In either aspect it is named manma or mantra, expression of thought in mind, and brāhman, expression of the heart or the soul, — for this seems to have been the earlier sense of the word brāhman, afterwards applied to the Supreme Soul or universal Being.(H.H)
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 16:14:04 +0000
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