THE TAITTIRTYAPRTIAKHYA AS 密 ON ANTJSVARA 教 文 Nobuhiko Kobayasi 化 A The dot at the left upper corner of an Indian letter1) represents a nasal element called anusvara (that which follows a vowel).2) The descriptions of anusvara as found in the works of ancient Indian phoneticians3) are so inconsistent and confusing that modern Sanskrit scholars are still confused. Some represented by the author of the Atharvavedapratiaakhya hold that it is a pure nasalized vowel,4) and others represented by the author of the RkpratiS'akhya say that it is either a vowel and a consonant.5) There is also another school, according to which it is a pure consonant.6) B An Indo-aryan syllable (aksara)7) is heavy (guru) or light (laghu). It is heavy, when the vowel is long8) or followed by a conjunction of con- sonants,9) and it is light when the vowel is short or not followed by a con- junction of consonants.10) An important feature of the phonetic element called anusvara is that it affects meter. According to the Taittiriyapratisakhya (TP), a letter with the anusvara sign represents a metrically long syllable." On the basis of this, description of the TP, Whitney adopts the view that anusvara is a lengthened nasal vowel.12) He seeks support for his interpretation from the fact that the anusvara sign is written over the vowel -112- of the first syllable.131 So the phonetic value of vamsa is interpreted as [Qa:sa]. This interpretation seems to be supported by such Hindi develop- THE TAITTIRIYAPRATISAKHYA ON ANUSVARA ment of anusvara as in vamsa>bas. However, a metrically long syllable is not necessarily due to the length- ening of a vowel: We can as well suppose that something additional of consonantal nature is involved here, if it always comes before a consonant. Moreover, Whitney's interpretation is not compatible with the fact that the author of the AP distinguishes a nasalized vowel from an element called anusvara: On the treatment of a vowel when /n/ becomes /r/14) or others and when /m/ is elided," he gives two opposing views: One is that the vowel (svara) is nasal (anunasika) (V), and the other is that the anusvdra element comes after it (V+/rp/).16) C The author of the TP explains the conditions under which /m/ be- comes anusvara. [The nasal consonant] /m/, when followed by a spar sa, becomes anunasika, with its place [of articulation] (sthana) being the same as yam kamayeta, that [of the sparsa]:17' [yam kamayeta (TS, 1.6. 104)>yam kamayeta, [Sam ca me (TS, 4.7.31)>] sam ca me. [tam to duscaksah (TS, 3.2.102)>] tam to du scakah.18) The word anunasika is primarily an adjective, as opposed to Buddha. (pure).19) It is synonymous with rakta (colored).20 Of being anunasika, he lays down a definition: "Being anunasika is due to the opening of [the passage to] the nose (nasika)."21) So the phonetic element called anusvara is different from /m/, but of similar nasal character. This nasal character called anunasikya is said to be common to both /m/ and anusvara.22) The nasal sound /m/ is understood to become another -111- type of nasal sound before a spar S'a. In ancient Indian phonetics, the word spar a (touch) means "a sound 密 produced when a place [of articulation] (sthana) is perfectly touched by an organ [of articulation] (karana). 23) It does not matter whether the passage 教 to the nasal cavity is closed or open. It is stops and nasal consonants that 文 come under this category. The spar. a /m/ which itself is anunasika becomes another type of anunasika sound before a stop or a nasal consonant. 化 The place [of articulation] (sthana) is where a touch is made in producing consonants." There are five sthanas: a) the root of the [upper] jaw (hanu- mula), b) palate (talu), c) the top [of the buccal cavity] (murdhan),25' d) the roots of the [upper] teeth (Manta-nnula): The Tribhasyaratna adds e) the [upper] lip (uttarotha).26) The sthana of /k/ is the root of the upper jaw (hanu-mula). When one says yam kamayeta, the sthana of /m/ is also the root of the upper jaw. Before a stop or a nasal consonant, /m/ is assimilated to the following sound without changing its nasal character. D Then the author of the TP takes up another case. [The nasal consonant /m/,] when followed by an antair.stha becomes [a sound] which is nasal (anunasika) and similar (savanna) to the [fol- low ing antahstha]:211 [samyatta asan (TS, 1.5.11) >] samyatta asan, [suvargam lokam (TS, 1.5.44)x] suvargam lokam, [samvatsarah (TS, 1.5.13)>] samvatsarah. 28' The term antahstha (being between) means "a sound produced from a halfway effort to have the tongue touch the place of articulation." 29) Under this category come the semivowels, /y/, /r/, /1/ and /v/ ([9]).30) We now understand that the anunasika spar t a /m/ becomes another type of anunasika sound before a semivowel.31) -110- In ancient Indian phonetics, the term prayatna (effort) means "[the result of an] effort [to narrow the air passage in the buccal cavity]": There THE TAITTIRIYAPRATISAKHYA ON ANUSVARA are four degrees of the result; a) sprsta ([perfectly] touched), b) isat-sprsta (slightly touched), c) ?sad-vivrta (slightly opened), d) vivrta (opened)121. The prayatna of a semivowel is [the state of being] slightly touched (isad-sprsta). The term savar na (similar sound) literally means "of the same color." Panini defines it as follows: "Savarna is [a sound uttered] with the same place [of articulation (sthana) and the same result of the] effort [to narrow the air passage].33' For example /d/ is a savar na of /t/: In producing the two sounds, the place (sthana) is the roots of the teeth (danta-mula) and the result of the effort is the state of being perfectly touched (slista)." It follows that the prayatna of /m/ in this case is also the state of being slightly touched. So this is a nasal produced when the air passage in the buccal cavity is not completely closed. The sthana of this anunasika sound is the palate (talu), at which /y/ is produced. So the phonetic value of this nasal sound is interpreted here as something like [y]. As for the /m/ before a stop or a nasal consonant, the author does not use the term savar na, and only says that the sthana is the same as that of the following spar sa, the prayatna of which is the state of being completely touched (slista). Here we can confirm that the air passage is not com- pletely closed when this type of nasal sound is produced. E This element called anusvara is written in some inscriptions as a con- sonant: yasansi for yasamsi, kasmint cit for kasmimscit, ansuka for amsuka, sinha for simha, etc.34) This means that the anusvara element was considered to be interchangeable with a consonant. On the other hand, we find another fact. In such contrasts as tam sa -109- pasyati (He sees her.) versus tan sa pasyati (He sees them.), taz hanti (He kills her.) versus tan hanti (He kills them.) or samradhyati (It is accom- 密 plished.) versus samraiah35) (paramount sovereign). The anusvara element is not changeable with a nasal consonant. Therefore it is a phoneme 教 separate from the consonant /n/ or /m/: It is not a pure consonant either. 文 Since the phonetic element called anusv ara is neither the nasal factor of a vowel nor a pure nasal consonant, the only choice of interpretation left 化 for us is that it is a nasal consonant which is produced when the air passage is not completely closed in the buccal cavity and which is homorganic with the following stop.") Abbreviations AP: Atharvavedapratisakhya, ed. William D. Whitney, JAOS, 7, 1862, pp. 333-616. PS: Paniniyasiksa, ed. Gopala S strin Nene and Sudamasarman Misra, Benares, 1929. RP: Rkpratisakhya, Rigveda, 1, ed. Max Miiller, Leipzig, 1856, pp. i- cccxcv. TP: Taittiriyapratisakhya, ed. William D. Whitney, New Haven, 1868. TS: Taittiriyasamhita, ed. Albrecht Weber, Leipzig, 1871-1872. Notes 1) This sign is not included in the Paninian varnasamdmnaya. Mahabhasya ad Sivasutra 5: ke punar ayogavahah. visarjaniyajihvamuliyopadhmani- yanusvaranunasikyayamah. katham punar ayogavahah. yad ayukta vahanty vahanty anupadistas ca sruyante. 2) TP, 21.6: anusvarah svarabhaktis ca [purvasya svarasya]. "Also anusvara and svarabhakti belong to the preceding vowel. Panjika ad PS, 5: svaram anu bhavati. Allen's literal translation "after-sound" or "subordinate sound" is erroneous (Phonetics in Ancient India, 1953, p. 40). The term svara here does not mean "sound," but "vowel." And the Sanskrit prefix anu, unlike upa, is not used in the sense of "subordinate." -108- 3) The ancient genre of treatises dealing with phonetics is called prati sakhya. The word means "that which belongs to each school [of the Veda]" (Tattva- THE TAITTIRIYAPRATISAKHYAbodhini ONad ANUSVARA Siddhantakaumud i, Pan. 4.3.59: pratisakham bhavai bhavam pratisakhyam ity madhavah). Siddheshwar Varma found a passage of the Taittiriyapratisakhya (22.9-10) as cited in Patahjali's Mahabhasya (ad Astadhyayi 1.2.29-30). The Rkprati sakhya, the oldest, quotes Yaska, whose date is around 500 B. C., according to Sarup (The Nighantu and the Nirukta, p. 54). Varma asserts that most of the prati sakhya literature range between 500 and 150 B. C. (Critical Studies in the Phonetic Observations of Indian Grammarians, Delhi, 1961, pp. 20-28). 4) They describe this phonetic phenomenon as the elision of /n/ or /m/ and the consequent nasalization of the preceding vowel.