CHINU’S NOTES ON THITTIRIYA UPANISAD -3 SECTION 2 – VARNASVARADI SIKSANAM - LESSON ON PRONUNCIATION MANTRA 1 aum shixam vyakhyasyamah . varnah svarah . matra balam.h . sama santanah . ityuktah shixadhyayah .. 1.. iti dvitiyo.anuvakah .. Om. We will expound siksha, or the science of pronunciation. It deals with sound, pitch, quantity, force, modulation and combination. Thus is explained the lesson on pronunciation. Although the purpose of reading the Upanishad is to get at its meaning, we may miss that meaning if we do not know the pronunciation of each of its words because Sanskrit is a phonetic language where the spoken and written letters and words (sound and its illustration) produce the same effect without any difference inter se (unlike English language where written words may be similar but their pronunciation differ e.g. the words ‘PUT’ and ‘BUT’). Hence the science of pronunciation has been given such a high importance that it is considered as the auxiliary work to the Vedas (Veda Upanga). These auxiliary works are six in number viz. 1. Siksha – Science of pronunciation 2. Chhandas – Science of prosody 3. Vyakarana – Science of Grammar 4. Nirukta – Science of etymology 5. Jyotish – Science of Astronomy and 6. Kalpa – Science of rituals. The Upanishad unfolds the entire Veda as a physical act of worship of Paramesvara in oneself. Accordingly, the Upanishad now proceeds to present, in a series of lessons, an overview of the essential content of a selected few major topics from the Karma Kanda of the Veda, which serve as Moksha Sadhanam. Since Vedic education is mainly through oral communication, the Vedic student first learns to utter the Veda mantras properly. What that involves is indicated in this section. The Vedic education starts with Siksha which also means the science of phonetics, or principles of correct articulation and pronunciation. Correct pronunciation of letters and words is extremely important in teaching Veda mantras. Since wrong pronunciation of letters and words will ultimately lead to alteration of mantras and their meanings, early Vedic education stresses the all-important nature of correct pronunciation of Veda mantras. The only remedy to correct the ill effects of wrong pronunciation of Upanishad mantras is to learn to pronounce them correctly, together with their proper meanings and with proper understanding. Therefore, Vedic education starts with phonetics of Vedic language. The Vedic teacher will first explain the science of phonetics of Vedic language. This entire Upanishad being an abstract of the entire Veda highlights only the essential topics which are indicated. With respect to phonetics of Vedic language, the essential topics are varnah svarah . matra balam.h .sama santanah . Varnah svarah means accent on letters, syllables and words. Every Vedic chanting has prescribed svaras. They are four in number, namely, Udattham, Anudattham, Svaritham and Prachayam. These svaras are usually indicated in the written version of Veda mantras. For example, Udattham is indicated by a vertical stroke above the letter or the syllable, and it means raise the voice. Anudattham is indicated by a horizontal stroke, and it means lower the voice. Svaritham is indicated by two vertical strokes above the syllable, and it means raise the voice and lengthen the syllable by three units of time, and Prachayam means normal pronunciation. For one who is well trained in Vedic chantings, these Svaras come naturally. In addition to the four Svaras, there is also a symbol for total silence - the substratum sustaining all forms, names and sounds, which is indeed the true nature of Brahman without limitations of any attributes. In the written texts, this is indicated by a curve and a dot above the syllable as we see in AUM. Matra refers to style of pronunciation with respect to duration or vowel length – a short vowel consists of one matra, a long vowel two matras and a prolonged vowel three matras - and balam refers to intensity or effort associated with the style of pronunciation. Sama refers to style of pronunciation with respect to speed and intonation (fast, slow, high pitch, low pitch, etc.). This is particularly important in Sama Veda. Santanah refers to the flow of words with respect to Sandhi and Samhita, connection and combination of letters and words. In all these various forms of pronunciation, one should neither bite the words, nor swallow the words. The mantras themselves must come out crisp and clear, so that the meaning of the mantras can spring forth completely and spontaneously. Thus the lesson on phonetics has been stated, which means that one must clearly understand that, aside from the language itself, which is obvious, accent, duration, strength or intensity, speed and intonation, and connection or combination are the most essential aspects of the science of phonetics with respect to proper utterance of Veda mantras as an inseparable part of Vedic education and training. Simple explanation which can be understood by a layman In this section, we have the entire Science of Phonetics that go under the name siksa. Here the word siksa, in which there is a lengthening of the first letter, is justified as a grammatical peculiarity sanctioned in Vedik usages. Before instructing and initiating the students into the Vedik study, they had to go through a thorough schooling in the art and Science of Pronunciation. Unless a language codifies its rules of articulation and insists that every student must begin his education with a complete grounding in its rules, the chances are that, in a short time, the language will gain into its fold local usages and wrong pronunciations. A casual examination of all the existing languages today would give us an idea of this danger. The numberless dialects that are available from district to district in this vast country of ours, where in many of them the mother language is almost forgotten, are instances in point. This is so not only in India; in Europe also the condition is the same. The telegraphic language adopted by the American Press today is a living example of how the eighteenth century nobility of language, dignity of diction, power of expression, rhythm and beauty of sounds used have all been lost in a vulgar usage wherein even vowels are totally swallowed or partially gasped out. Contrasted with this confusion in a spoken language as English, brought about from place to place even within a couple of centuries, we have in the Vedik lore a language that has stood the test of thousands of years and, even today, except in rare cases, the pronunciation is uniform all over the country. It is so because the study of the Science of Pronunciation is insisted upon everywhere before the student is initiated into the Veda-s. The teacher is addressing here the Vedik students, and by the time the student has come to the Upanisad class, he had, in his education, mastered the early lessons in the curriculum wherein he has been already initiated into these topics. Therefore, the teacher has only to remind the student of the importance of these topics, and hence, in his section, we find only the enumeration of the various sub-heading. May be, the Rsi, at the time of his discourses, might have given exhaustive talks on these topics, and the mantra-s, as they stand, only represent the points of the talk which the students were made to repeat as a help for them in their later days to remember the entire discourse. The Science of Phonetics or Orthogepy includes Varna (letter of sounds), svara (accent or pitch), matra (measure or length of quantity), balam (effort in pronouncing), sama (pronouncing the letters of a word uniformly), and samtana (continuity of words). The ‘letters’ fall under many groups; the guttural, the palatal, the dental, and the labial etc. The ‘accents’ or tones that generally fall on the vowels in each word or syllable are of three kinds: udatta (the acute or high), anudatta (the grave or middle), and svarita (the low). The ‘measure’ or length of time required in pronouncing the short or long or lengthened vowels is also to be carefully noted by every student of phonetics. The correct time taken to pronounce a short vowel is considered as one P-instant (hrasva); to pronounce a long vowel is two P-instants (dirgha); and a prologated vowel is of three P-instant (pluta). The ‘effort’ in pronouncing is indicated by the exertion that the speaker has to put upon his vocal chords in bringing forth the right sound in the right way. The science explains these efforts under two different headings, the outer and the inner; and again, in its details divides the ‘outer efforts’ as of eleven kinds, and the ‘inner’ as of five kinds. The rule of ‘uniform’ pronunciation is evidently most important, or else the meaning can become totally different. ‘Ramaw ent tos chool’ cannot be easily understood by anybody as ‘Rama went to school.’ The ‘regular blending’ of sounds and words 9samtana) is also as much important in language in order to bring forth the correct meaning. ‘Ajmer gaya’ (gone to Ajmer) will become a statement of tragedy and bereavement if we disobey the rules of samtana and say, Aj mera (mara) gaya’ (today he had died). Uktah – ‘has been explained.’ This word indicates the end of the section and it clearly shows that the teacher must have given exhaustive discourses upon these six limbs of the Science of Pronunciation so that, at the end of it all, he concludes that the lesson on pronunciation ‘has been explained. End of Section 2 - Chapter 1 Listen to shikshavalli in you tube while reading this https://youtube/watch?v=89Wdm4LNHqM
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 03:07:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015