काव्ये विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

Source: TW

Thread by @RangaTheDude on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App

A note on “missing syllables” in Rik verses:

One often encounters instances of “missing syllables” in Rigvedic mantras. A gāyatrī pāda should have 8 syllables but you’ll only see 7. A kakubh meter is supposed to have 3 pādas with 8-8-12 syllables and you’d find 11 in the 3rd line.

There’s an endeavor to metrically restore the Rigveda in Indological circles. Some strategies used are dissolution of sandhi, making words like indra, sūrya etc. as trisyllabic.

On the other hand it’s useful for an insider to be aware of what happened within the tradition. I this context, one should look at panchavimsha brāhmaņa of sāmaveda - 1.3.17 to 1.3.23. The brāhmaņa specifically calls out the

(a) sāmans sung in prātassavana of a somayaga - (commentator gives the gAyatrI RV 9.11.1 on which bahishpavamana is sung)
(b) āmahīyava sāman sung on the gāyatrī RV 9.61.10
(c) vāmadevya pŕṣṭa stotra sung on 4.31.1 - 3 and
(d) samiṣṭa sāman sung on the 3 gāyatrīs SV 2.39 - 41.

They all miss one syllable. In a typical brāhmaņical fashion, it explains that, “there is a gap” and from “gap indeed a fetus is born”; “from the gap the inhalation and exhalation occur”. It also cites the yajñāyajñīya Saman sung on the satobŕhatī RV 8.4.13 that 2 syllables are missing -
One in the 3rd pAda with 11 instead of expected 12
and 7 instead of 8 in the 4th,
which the brāhmaņa explains as something needed for the emission of the prāņas.

The whole point is that the sāmaveda already presupposes the Riks with missing syllables and metrical restoration for us is an intellectual curiosity (irrespective of how much ever sympathetic we might be towards the endeavor).