Recitation Of Veda Mantras - The Eleven Methods Which Passed The Greatest Knowledge In Oral Form Without The Need For Writing For Many Thousand Years

We all know that Vedas are four in total. We also know that they were oral treasure for many thousand years and were not meant to be preserved in written form, though they are documented now. It is important, and indeed interesting to know, how these were passed orally, from person to person, over many generations, without even slightest change in pronunciation.  Sound and vibration are the key factors in chanting the Veda mantras and just because of this main reason, they were taught in oral form. In order to preserve the Vedic pitch accent and to aid in perfect memorization, Eleven methods were widely practiced in olden days while reciting Veda mantras. In this article, we will briefly learn about these methods. 

Watch this amazing chanting by the European Veda Union Group - (you will get goosebumps) :

The Eleven Methods : 

The names of these methods are already mentioned in the introductory slide. Hence let us proceed with the specific details now. This order is ascending, which means, these methods are from simple to complex.

SAMHITA : 

The simplest form of recitation. Also known as "Vaakya". Memorizing as it is. Continuous recitation.

PADA :

This is word by word recitation, in which compounds (sandhi) are dissolved. In every sentence, Padhas will be segregated and memorized. A "Pathin" is a scholar who has mastered the pada method of recitation.

KRAMA :

In this method, the first letter of a mantra will be joined with second letter, second with the third, third with the fourth and so on, till the mantra ends. Typically the pattern will be ab, bc, cd, de and so on. A person who mastered this method of recitation is called a "kramavit".

JATA :

In this method, every two adjacent words in the text are first recited in original order, then repeated in the reverse order and then repeated again in the original order.  The pattern will be ab ba ab ; bc cb bc ; cd dc cd ; and so on. "Jata Vallaba" is the title given to those scholars who have mastered this method of recitation.

Sikha :

This is somewhat similar to JATA method. But three adjacent words in the text are taken (while in JATA method, two adjacent words are taken). Except for this, the method is exactly same as that of JATA method.

Dhwaja :

This is literally called as "flat recitation". A sequence of "N" words were memorized by pairing the first two and last two words. The pattern goes somewhat like this : 

word1word2, word(N-1)wordN, word2word3, word(N-3)word(N-2)........,word(N-1)wordN, word1word2

Ghana :

This is the most complex form of recitation. Literally, it is known as "dense recitation". Sankaracharya says that there are four different types in this "Ghana" method of recitation. Typically, this is a permutation combination method of recitation. He says that this method is so difficult to even explain. Just take a look at the pattern (source - wikipedia) :

word1word2, word2word1, word1word2word3, word3word2word1, word1word2word3, word2word3, word3word2, word2word3word4, word4word3word2, word2word3word4...............

Recitation of Rigveda Samhita in "Ghana" Format :

We do not have much information about recitation under the methods, "Malaa" ; "Rekha" ; "Danda" and "Rathaa". I searched many sources for writing this article and I could not find the exact recitation methods under these formats. I really felt bad about this. It is our divine tradition but we are slowly losing the roots. I would really appreciate if any one of you, reading this article, can share some information about these formats. I am pretty sure that details about these four formats are available somewhere.

Let me conclude this post by quoting Sankaracharya's (source - kamakoti.org) words :

"All these different methods of chanting are meant to ensure the tonal and verbal purity of the Vedas did not undergo the slightest change. It is futile for modern researchers to try and establish the date of our scriptures by finding out how the sounds of its words have changed."

References :

http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/kural14.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_chant

http://www.srimatham.com/uploads/5/5/4/9/5549439/introduction_to_vedic_chanting.pdf
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/00062