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

Some Experiences About My Recent Temple Visits In India

Just came back after India vacation feeling refreshed. Missed my blog writing though I manged to post couple of updates in Vishnu Sahasranama sloka. This is again a very quick post about my recent temple visits in India, We had been to Kanchipuram, Thirupathi, Vaitheeswaran Kovil and our Kuladeivam temple in Mayavaram, Tamilnadu. We had very good darshan. But I felt little bad and sad to see certain happenings and the business tactics played in some of such sacred places. Let me quickly share my experience.

The moment we arrived at Vaitheeswaran Kovil, one person tried to redirect us to a specific shop (located outside the temple) to get the Archana items . We silently walked away and went inside the temple. There are lots of shops inside the temple and indeed lots of competition too, among themselves. We bought Archana items from one such shops, priced at about 200 rs. and proceeded further. Next comes the sales of salt and pepper (that we use to offer in a specific place in that temple as a form of prayer) for about 20 rs. They try to sell it somehow to you even if you do not have such kind of prayer. We had to buy one packet each and then finally went inside. By the time we arrived at the temple it was about 3.30 p.m.and the Sannadhis were closed. So we waited till 4 (that's when they open for evening darshan) and went around the temple. Since it was the first darshan in the evening, we faced extreme crowd. It was like mini Thirupathi to be more specific. We got the Archana tickets and proceeded to a Gurukkal who performed the Archana, for which, we again gave him some dakshinai. (we could not take a closer look though, due to the huge crowd) and completed our darshan. 

The following points really disturbed me:

• Except Thirupathi, all the other temples I visited, lack in cleanliness. People even spit near temple areas.
• Priests definitely show two faces to people who offer money in their trays and who do not.
• In Kanchipuram, we received Sankaracharya's photo by one person, and while we started to take it as a blessing, the same person came with a pen and a paper to note down our address for getting money for some cause. This disappointed me a lot.
• Crowd is unmanageable at times. We need to certainly push others (while we are pushed by others) to have darshan. Or else it is impossible to see the deity.
• The salt and pepper area (in vaitheeswaran koil) is always overflowing. I just wish and pray that they do not recycle (sell) the same salt and pepper to new people.

I do understand that priests make their living by the offerings people give them. But what disturbs me is the way they behave to others who do not give any offerings. They even yell and shout when there is extreme crowd, and sometimes skip giving prashad like holy ash, kumkum, thirtha, etc. Their frustration could be due to many factors, but people visit temples mainly to get mind peace and if that itself is affected, then whom should we blame for it? Is it right to bring business inside temples? What can we , as common people, do to improve such conditions? Please share your suggestions.

Utterances of Sankaracharya - Maha Periyava

How do heavenly bodies remain in the skies? How is it that they do not fall? Everybody thinks that it was Newton who found the answer to such questions. The very first stanza in the Suryasiddhanta, which is a very ancient treatise, states that it is the  force of attraction that keeps the earth from falling.

In Sankara's commentary on the Upanisads there is a reference to the earth's force of attraction. If we throw up an object it falls to the ground. This is not due to the nature of object but due to the earth's force of attraction. "Akarsana-sakti" is force of attraction, the power of drawing or pulling something. The breath called "prana" goes up, "apana" pulls it down. So the force that pulls something downward is apana. The Acarya says the earth has apana-sakti. The Prasnopanisad (3. 8) states: 

"The deity of the earth inspires the human body with apana". 

In his commentary on this, Sankara observes that, just as an object thrown up is attracted by the earth, so prana that goes up is pulled down by apana. This means that our Upanisads contain a reference to the law of gravitation. There are many such precious  truths embedded in our ancient sastras. Because of our ignorance of  them we show inordinate respect for ideas propounded by foreigners, ideas known to us many centuries before their discovery by them. Our Jyotisa is also some thousands of years old. Even so it foresaw the mathematical systems prevalent in the world today.

At the beginning of the kalpa, all grahas were in alignment. But over  the ages they have changed their courses. When another kalpa commences, they will again remain in alignment. The "samkalpa" we make before the performance of any ritual contains a description of the cosmos, a reference to the time cycle, and so on. 

                                

                                                                                                              ----- Maha Periyava

http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part10/chap7.htm