Vedic Accents
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Vedic Accents Following the rules of Pan ini in the formation of a word from its rudimentary . elements, the vowels acquire one of three basic pitch accents or svara : a udatta, raised pitch [1.2.29], b anudatta, not raised [1.1.30], c svarita,a blend of the rst two [1.2.31]. The pronunciation of the svarita is initially udatta for the p erio d of half a short vowel and anudatta for the rest i.e. one and a half measures for a long vowel [1.2.32]. In continuous sp eech or samhita, all anudatta . syllables following a svarita are called pracaya and are pronounced eka sruti monotone, between anudatta and udatta [1.2.39], however, the anudatta immediately preceding a svarita or udatta is pronounced sannatara lower than anudatta [1.2.40]. The Vedas may also be recited entirely in eka sruti with exceptions [1.2.36 .], nonetheless b e aware that the accentmay a ect the meaning of a word, particularly a comp ound [6.1.223, 6.2.1] e.g. s u -krta, . ind. well done; su-krt a, n. a go o d deed. With rare exceptions, a word standing alone has at most one vowel accented udatta or svarita, the rest b eing anudatta [6.1.158]. This is the basis of the Western system of marking Vedic accents in transliteration. Since most vowels are anudatta, this is taken as the basic or unaccented form, and the other accents are marked as: a acute for the udatta e.g. k arma . b grave for the svarita e.g. vaky a. Vowel sandhi , b esides pro ducing a new vowel sound, also blends their accents: if this blending pro duces a svarita accent, it is called an indep endent svarita by Western grammarians. Where this indep endent svarita is within a word it is called nitya or jatya innate, and where it arises due to the joining of words in samhita continuous sp eech [8.2.4, 6] it is further classi ed . according to the typ e of sandhi : a Ksaipra quick when the rst vowel is replaced by its . semivowel [6.1.77]; the name arises from the shortening of the time measure from that of a vowel to that of a semivowel. The svarita accent replaces an anudatta o ccuring immediately after the semivowel substitution for an udatta or svarita vowel [8.2.4] e.g. apsu ant ah apsv ant ah. 1 U or S +A semivowel +S :::::::::::::::::::::::::: 1 i i where U=udatta, S =indep endent svarita, and A=anudatta. i b Pra slist a coalescence when b oth vowels are replaced by a . single vowel [6.1.84 ]; the single substitute of an anudatta at the b eginning of a word and the preceding udatta, b ecomes svarita optionally [8.2.6] e.g. n a ev a n a v a. U+ AS :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 2 i This rule applies to sandhi between words, whereas the general rule is that the single replacementof udatta and anudatta vowels in either order is udatta [8.2.5]. U+ A or A+ UU ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 3 c Abhinihita close contact when a following a is absorb ed by a nal e or o [6.1.109]; the rule for the accent follows that of 0 the pra slista e.g. ray ah av anih ray o v anih. An indep endent svarita, when the next syllable has an udatta or indep endent svarita accent, is pronounced kampa tremolo in some traditions: this would apply in the ab ove three examples. S -S or U K-S or U i i i where K=kampa svarita. In samhita there is a further svarita called suddha simple, mere; Western . grammarians name it the dep endent, substitute, or enclitic svarita. An anudatta syllable following one that is udatta b ecomes svarita [8.4.66], unless it is in turn followed by an udatta or svarita [8.4.67]. U-A U -S :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 4 d where S = dep endent svarita. d But U -A -Uor S U -A -Uor S :::::::::::::::::: 5 These rules combine to pro duce a rhythm in the sound: A -U -S -A -A caused by the udatta, and s d e e A -S -A -A caused by the indep endent svarita, s i e e where A =sannatara, and A =eka sruti. s e The cadence b ecomes more complex with the reduction of syllables separating the main accents U and S , so as to eliminate the eka sruti or even the i dep endent svarita. 2 At this p oint it would be useful to present a practical illustration of these accent changes that arise in continuous sp eech. The example is taken from the R gveda 10.125.7: the verse is shown as separate words and then in . samhita showing the applicable rules. ah am suve pit aram asya murdh an m ama y onih apsu ant ah samudr e, . t atah v tis the bhuvan a anu v sva ut a amum dyam varsm ana up a spr sami. 4 4 5 4 1, kampa 4 ah am s uve pit ar am asya murdh an m ama y on rapsv ant ah s amudr e, . * 5 4 5 3 5 5 3 5 3 4 t ato v t sthe bhuvan anu v svotamum dyam varsm an op a spr sami. * optionally, rule 2 could apply here and b ecome kampa. The tradition of Western sanskritists emphasizes grammar and translation, and thus will use the form of separated words in transliteration; it is unusual to nd fully accented samhita text in transliteration: at b est only the udatta . and jatya svarita are marked. India, on the other hand, has an oral tradition which emphasizes pronunciation and rhythm, and thus the marking of accents in devanagar script is optimized for correct pronunciation; in fact, the written form is a much later development and has given rise to di erent metho ds of accent notation. The various traditions are discussed separately: a Rgveda has udatta unmarked; the svarita jatya or suddha is marked . with a vertical line ab ove the syllable e.g. A , but the kampa is indicated byanumeral 1 following the vowel if it is short, or the numeral 3 if it is long, and in b oth cases there is a vertical line ab ove the numeral and a horizontal line b elow it; in the case of the long kampa vowel the syllable usually also has a horizontal line b elow it e.g. A1! A:a!3! A:a3! . The anudatta is marked with a horizontal bar b elow the syllable: this applies to all anudatta syllables b efore the rst udatta or svarita in a line of verse, after which only those anudatta that immediately precede an udatta or svarita i.e. sannatara is marked, and the rest of the anudatta i.e. eka sruti are not marked. Using the sample verse from the Rgveda, the accent marking in transliteration . and the original devanagar is: 3 aham suve pitaramasya mur dhan mama yon rapsva1ntah samudre, . tato vi t sthe bhuvananu vi svotamum dyam varsmanopa spr sami. å A!:hM .sua:vea ; a:p!a:ta.= ;ma:~ya mUa:DRa:n}.a:m!a ya:ea: a:na.=! ;p~va1! ;ntaH .sa:mua:de Á Ò ! å õ x ù ta:ta:e!a ; a:va ; a:ta:e! Bua:v!a:na:a:nua ; a:va.;a:e!a:ta:a:mMUa d;a:MaÅ v!a:SmRa:na:ea:pa .~.pa:Za:a: a:ma ÁÁ ! To illustrate the notation when a verse b egins with multiple anudatta syllables, let the rst word have no accent, thus: aham suve pitara masya mur dhan mama ... Ö å A!:hM .sua:ve!a ; a:p!a:ta.= ;ma:~ya mUa:DRa:n}.a:m!a ! ! ! For the Rgveda the current practice in India is, apparently, to pronounce all . syllables marked with the underbar anudatta and sannatara asanudatta, all unmarked syllables udatta and eka sruti as eka sruti, and syllables marked svarita as moving from udatta to eka sruti. b Samaveda accents are marked with a numeral, or numeral and letter, ab ove the syllable: udatta, svarita, and anudatta are marked with the numerals 1, 2, and 3 resp ectively; the gure 2 is also used to indicate an udatta when there is no following svarita ; eka sruti syllables are not marked. Sp ecial marking is used for particular accent sequences: U -U -S 1 - unmarked -2r U -U -A 2u - unmarked -3 A -S 3k -2r i Using the same passage from the Rgveda as an illustration, the marking in . transliteration and devanagar would be: 3 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 2u 3 1 3k 2r 1 2 aham suve pitaramasya mur dhanmama yonirapsvantah samudre, . 2 3 1 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 2u 3 1 2r tato vi tisthe bhuvananu vi svotamum dyam varsmanopa spr sami. å A:hM .sua:vea ; a:pa:ta.=;ma:~ya mUa:DRa:n}.a:ma ya:ea: a:na.=;p~va:ntaH .sa:mua:de Á Ò å õ x ù ta:ta:ea ; a:va ; a:ta:e Bua:va:na:a:nua ; a:va.;a:ea:ta:a:mMUa d;a:MaÅ va:SmRa:na:ea:pa .~.pa:Za:a: a:ma ÁÁ 4 c Satapatha-Brahman a uses only two accents, udatta and anudatta : . a horizontal line b elow the syllable indicates anudatta as in the Rgveda .