Vedic Swaras or Variations in Pitch
Ihttp://acharya.iitm.ac.in/sanskrit/vedic_notation.php
As per my Veda Guru :
- Unmarked letters are udaata.
- If you see a horizontal line below a letter, you have to drop the pitch – anudaata
- If you see a vertical line above a letter, you have to raise the pitch – swarita.
- If you see a double vertical line above a letter, you to raise and the pitch and stretch it – dIrgha swarita.
- In specific instances the swara of the previous letter is carried till the next occurring anudata or till the end of that pada or mantra, that is prachaya. This is a rough rule.
- There are variations between Vedic Chanting between North and South India as well as across the various mathams. Each sampradayam (tradition) is correct in its own context.
As Per Panini’s Siksha :
- There are 3 svaras : udAtta, anudAtta and svarita and 3 kinds of time hrasva (short), dirgha (long), and plupta (?) (11)
- udAtta niSada, gAndharva; anudAtta RSabha, dhaivata; svarita SaDja, madhyama, pancama (12)
Image below from Source. It’s different from what’s described above.
Authorship and Copyright Notice : all Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
Could you provide us with more information on the ‘prachaya’ – the rules as to when a group of syllables is treated as prachaya, and hence pronounced with the swara of the syllable preceding the group?
Also, when looking for information on prachaya, I see ‘nighata’ as another such group….any idea what that might represent?
Thank you!
seeker
February 17, 2010 at 2:41 pm
When the swara of the previous letter is carried till the next occurring anudata or till the end of that pada or mantra, that is prachaya. This is a rough rule.
satyask
February 19, 2010 at 10:14 am
Thanks for the response!
I see what you are saying about the prachaya. What is unclear to me though is when a prachaya occurs…I mean, is there some rule to say “if condition A is satisfied, then this group of aksharams are treated as prachaya, i.e. the swara of the first aksharam is maintained for all the aksharams uptil the end of pada/next anudatta”
Perhaps by rough rule you mean that no distinct/clear rule exists for the above, and we must go solely with the guidance of those we learn from (they will know when to pronounce a prachaya)?
Thank you!
seeker
February 19, 2010 at 10:20 pm
I am looking for that condition – it might be found in Naradiya Siksha!
satyask
February 20, 2010 at 7:14 am
Great…I’ll keep an eye out too, and if I find anything that will help, will be sure to pass it along.
Thanks!
seeker
February 20, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Found something that may help – there is a worked called Svaramanjari – think you can get it from sanskritdocuments.org
This describes the prachaya [I have a copy here, but is a little too complicated for me to unravel yet]
Hope that helps!
PS: If you are unable to find it, let me know and I’ll upload a copy for you/send you one by email.
seeker
February 20, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I couldn’t find it on sanskritdocuments.org.. please do send me a copy by e-mail..
Satya
satyask
February 21, 2010 at 6:15 am
Please find svaramanjari at – http://sanskritdocuments.org/all_pdf/svaramanj.pdf
Excerpt from the document containing the definition of Prachaya –
“All AnudAttas (in a string) following a Svarita are known as Prachaya”.
Sriram
June 1, 2011 at 11:08 am