Mr R Ramanathan, the Vedic scholar continues to enlighten us with another feature of
oral tradition of Vedas called ‘Kampa’. In this
article he describes Kampa, the types of Kampa and the application of Kampa in
Taittriya Samhita. A reading of previous articles in this topic would help the
reader understand this article better. They are
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Kampa
The
Kampa is a Vedic intonation or swara that has a special musical characteristic
compared to the other basic 4 swaras. This swara is very rare in the Taittriya
shaka but is found more frequently in the Rig Veda, the most famous of those
found in the Manyu, Devi and the Pavamana sooktas. But it is slightly different in
intonation compared to the Taittriya. One has to approach the proper teachers
of the Rig and Yajur Veda to learn the right intonation of that particular
shaka of that Veda.
Relevance
of this article.
The
article will be relevant for people who have started to learn the Samhita,
especially the 2nd and the 6th Kandas which have the
majority of the Kampas in the Samhita. People who just learn the upayukta portions of the Taittriya will not find this
article interesting as such people usually stick to the Rudram, Chamakam, some sooktas etc which has no kampas in them. Also, the ability to distinguish
various swaras on listening (Not based on marks in a book) is assumed. A basic
knowledge of the 4 fundamental swaras and the Swara rules and Sandhis like, Yan sandhi, savarna deergha, poorva roopa sandhi are
assumed. For completion, the definition of each sandhi and its sutra in the
ashtadhyayi will be given. But this is not exhaustive and does not give in
detailed depth the concepts and exceptions associated with them. Also an
understanding of the basic formats of pada and karma paata are assumed.
Types of svaritas
The
svarita as per the Ashtadhyayi is
As
per this definition the svarita first starts at udatta
level momentarily peeks at a higher tone and falls down. Just a small
example: नमः॑
The
small vertical line on मः॑
indicates that it is a svarita. There are 7 types of svaritas found as listed
below
1.
Nitya Svarita
2.
Abhinihita Svarita
3.Kshaipra
Svarita
4.
Praslishta Svarita
5.
Tairovyanjana Svarita
6.
PAdavruttha Svarita
7.PrAtihata
Svarita
8.
Tairo virama
For
this discussion, we will consider only svaritas of types 2, 3, 4 as they are
the ones mostly involved in the formation of the kampa. Type 1 occurs naturally
in a pada. Usually this svarita occurs immediately after a train of anudattas
or the only svarita in the word.
Examples:
से॒ना॒न्ये॑, अ॒मा॒वा॒स्यां(||), वी॒र्यं॑.
In
these words, the svarita on the last akshara of the
word occurs after a train of anudattas. Thus, this svarita is a Nithya svarita.
In
the case क्व॑,
the word is a single akshara with only one svarita on it. This is an example of
a Nithya swarita too. Types 2, 3 and 4 are discussed below.
Poorva roopa
sandhi
The
ashtadhyayi sutra for a purva roopa sandhi is
एङः
पदान्तादति-6.1.109
This
means the vowels in एङः
which is the pratyahara that includes ए and ओ, when occurring at the
end of a word (पदान्तादति),
and if followed by a short अ,
this short अ
gets absorbed into the previous ए
or ओ.
We can give another ashtadhyayi sutra only, as example. For ए
स्थाने ऽन्तरतम = स्थाने + अन्तरतमः
The
ए at
the end of the word स्थाने
absorbs the succeeding short अ
Example
for ओ:
Take another sutra itself for an example
एचो ऽयवायावः = एच: + अयवायावः
The
terminal ओ
of the first word absorbs the succeeding short अ
Yan sandhi
The
ashtadhayi sutra for this sandhi
इको यणचि -6.1.77e
The
meaning:
The
vowels in the set इक
(Which has इ
उ ऋ लृ and its dheerga forms)
and set of all vowels अच:
are replaced with the consonants in the set यण (This contains य व र ल with
its dheerga forms).
Examples
are
यदि + अपि = यद्यपि (इ is replaced with य)
गुरु + आदेश: = गुर्वादेश: (उ is replaced by व)
पितृ + उपदेश: = पित्रुपदेश: (ऋ is replaced र)
लृ + आकृति: = लाकृति: (लृ is replaced with ल)
These
2 are the most important sources of Kampas in the atleast the Taittriya shaka.
Ofcourse other shakas can have other sandhis as sources of Kampas. With this
understanding, let us proceed to define a few concepts related to the swaras.
The nithyatva of a swara
What
is meant by Nithyatva of a swara is the
retention of the intonation across various recitation formats like the pada and
Samhita. The udatta is the intonation type that retains its nature across the
pada and Samhita i.e. an Udatta akshara in the pada paata will have the same
udatta intonation in the Samhita paata. One more example of such a nitya swara
is the nitya swarita discussed in the initial part of this write-up. This svarita is a stable svarita and doesn’t
vary. For example, in the Taittriya Samhita 1st Kanda, 8th prashna 6th anuvaka,
the famous प्र॒ति॒पूरु॒षम्
anuvaka the following line exemplifies a nitya svarita
गृ॒ह्याः(||)
स्मः
तेभ्यः॑(||
means deerga swarita)
The
Dheertga svarita here is a nitya svarita. The most important thing to note that
this dheerga svarita did not become an anudaata as a Thairovyanjana swarita (TVS)
would, even though the next akshara स्मः was
an udatta. This happens as in the case of नमः॑ । नमः॑ the pada paataa form
which is common in the Rudra prashna. The Samhita paata is नमो॒
नमो॑
मृग॒युभ्यः॑. The highlighted
portion indicates the transformation of the TVS into an anudatta because the
next न
was udatta. This did not happen in the first example (1.8.6). Thus, this is an
example for the nityatva of the svarita.
The
Abhinihita and the kshaipra svaritas
Now
we are equipped to deal with the definitions for the Abhinihita and
Kshaipra.
Examples for the Abhinihita svarita
This
svarita is formed due to the poorva roopa sandhi
discussed above.
Examples:
ब्रा॒ह्म॒णो(||)ऽस्य॒ मुख॑मासीत्(|| indicates the
deerga svarita)
The
pada format for the above is
The
ण: has an udatta. Due to
“rutva sandhi” on the visarga ण:
changes to णो.
The अ॒
(short अ)
in अ॒स्य
has anudatta. Applying the rules of Abhinihita sandhi, the अ॒ gets absorbed into the
previous णो
indicated by the “ऽ“.
The important point is the swara of णो
the changes from udatta to a deerga svarita.
Another
example is 1st kanda. 5th prashna 1st anuvaka (The highlighted part)
सो॑ऽरोदीद्= सः + अ॒रो॒दी॒त्॒
In
the first example, the स्य
in अ॒स्य
retains it udatta character after the sandhi. In the 2nd example the ऽरोदीद् is prachaya.
Note
that for sandhi and swara purposes the Abhinihita svarita is treated as nitya
because even though the swara is a deergaswarita the udatta cannot be lost as it is an
unchanging swara as
Krishna says in the Geeta. Thus, the nitya
character of the udatta sticks to the Abhinihita svarita.
An example for the Kshaipra
svarita:
A
Kshaipra svarita is formed because of the Yan sandhi discussed above.
Examples:
त्रि + अ॒म्ब॒क॒म्॒ = त्र्य॑म्बकम्
त्रि is udaata and अ॒म्ब॒क॒म्॒ is sarvaanudata. But
due to the rules of yan sandhi discussed above, the त्रि and अ॒ coalesces to form त्र्य॑ with the resultant svarita
as the final swara of the sandhi. Note here again the udatta of त्रि has undergone a swara
change to svarita. This kshaipra svarita is also a nitya svarita AKA as Jaatya svarita, like the
Abhinihita svarita. Here अम्बकम्
is prachaya in character.
6th
kanda 4th prashna 2nd anuvaka
The
भी in अ॒भी coalesces with अ॒ of अ॒म्रि॒य॒त॒ as per rules of yan
sandhi resulting in भ्य॑
with a final swarita as the result.
What is a Kampa
With
this background being set we are now equipped to deal with the kampa swara. The kampa is musical in intonation and the correct
intonation must be learnt from a competent guru of that shaka. Without the loss
of generality across shakas, technically a kampa swara occurs when 2 continuous aksharas with swaras that are of the
nitya type (udatta, the above 2 svaritas etc) follow each other. Here we
deal only with examples from the Taittriya shaka only. Usually the kampa is denoted by a between the two aksharas that
form the kampa. The following are the characteristics of the kampa in the
Taittriya Shaka.
1. The
kampas in the Samhita portion occurs between 2 sequential aksharas, both having
a svarita swara on them. This svarita is mostly of the Abhinihita and kshaipra
type. Generally, any svarita of the nitya or jaatya type formed by a sandhi.
2. There
are no kampas in the Samhita for 2 sequential aksharas that are both udatta, or
one is svarita (Kshaipra or abhinihita) and other is anudatta. This is called a
udatta kampa (Atleast one akshara has to
be udatta for an udatta kampa). May be other vedas like the Rig Veda have them.
But this is not the general character of the
Taittriya Samhita.
3. The
exception to the above rule is that in the Aranyaka 2nd prashna. in the kooshmanda
mantras found this prashna we find udatta kampas. Examples for this
given later.
Examples of kampa swaras found in the Samhita.
The
classic and most immediate example found in the Samhita is in 6th
kanda 4th prashna 2nd anuvaka. This has 2 kampas formed
between 3 words as given below.
वृ॒त्रम॑ह॒न्थ्सो ऽपो ऽभ्य॑म्रियत॒
Notice
the 2 kampa marks found in this example. This kampa is formed as a result of 3
aksharas formed with an abhinihita svarita, followed by an akshara , again with
an abhinihita svarita, followed by an akshara with a kshaipra. We will break
down this example into the pada paata
सः ।
अ॒पः । अ॒भी। अ॒म्रि॒य॒त॒
Forming
the Samhita paata from the above pada paata sequence, we see the following
1. From
the rule of Abhinihta swarita सः+
अ॒पः = सो॑ऽपः.
2. Now
this सो॑ऽपः
is followed by अ॒भी.
Thus, further combining by the rule of Abhinihita svarita we get
सो॑ऽपः+ अ॒ (Of अ॒भी) = सो॑ऽपो॑ऽ
3. Now
the भी
of अ॒भी
combines with अ॒म्रि॒य॒त॒ to form as per yan sandhi rules a
kshaipra swarita
सो॑ऽपो॑ऽभी +
अ॒म्रि॒य॒त॒ = सो॑ऽपो॑ऽभ्य॑म्रियत
At
end of step 3 we can see 3 sequential aksharas that are svaritas, 2 abhinihitas
and one kshaipra. Since it is difficult to chant 3 successive svaritas or that
for that matter even 2 successive svaritas, the chanting process is smoothened
out by using the musical kampa which starts from the base value, rise
momentarily and falls. As said the actual chanting of a
kampa can vary between shakas and the nuances needs to be learnt from a guru.
This kampa illustrates the type found as per point 1 of the previous section.
Kampas within one word
In
the example above the kampa occurs at word boundaries. But it is possible for a
Kampa to occur in the middle of one word only. Such a kampa occurs in Taittriya
samhita 6th kanda 1st prashna 11th anuvaka, 75th
panchashat
ए॒ष पति॒र्विश्वान्य॒भि धामा॒नीत्या॑ह॒ विश्वा॑नि॒ ह्ये षो॑ऽभि
Let
us see how this Kampa arose. Giving the pada paata format for the above
ए॒षः । पतिः॑ । 2 । विश्वा॑नि । अ॒भीति॑ । धामा॑नि । इति॑ । आ॒ह॒ । 3 । विश्वा॑नि । हि । ए॒षः । अ॒भीति॑ ।
First
please note that the last word or pad is just अ॒भी and
the इति॑
has a special function the details into which won’t
be dealt here. Applying sandhi rules as seen in the previous examples
1. हि +
ए॒षः = ह्ये॑षः as
per yan sandhi and kshaipra swarita rule.
2. ह्ये॑षः+ अ॒भि = ह्ये॑षो॑ऽभि:again
as per Yan sandhi and swarita rules
3. Thus,
we see 2 successive kshaipra svaritas formed within a single word ए॒षः due to the formation
of 2 yan sandhis with each akshara of the word, resulting in 2 kshaipra svaritas
resulting in a kampa in between the aksharas of a single word.
Udatta kampa
Generally
as discussed above a kampa can occur when two successive aksharas, that have
swaras that are nitya by nature (Udatta
and nitya svarita) or are considered as nitya or jaatya svarita, because a
udatta (Since udatta is nitya by nature) was involved in the formation of a svarita
due to sandhi,s like Kshaipra and Abhnihita as discussed above.
In the taittriya Shaka we see that the general
rule for Kampas to occur, are the occurrences of 2 successive svaritas nitya or
otherwise. This is especially true in the case of the Samhita. An udatta kampa by definition occurs
between two aksharas in which one is udatta(The other akshara has to be a
swarita of the jaatya type-Kshaipra and Abhinihita).
That
this type of Kampa does not occur in the Samhita but occurs In the 2nd
prashna, 6th anuvaka, 9th panchashar of the Aranyaka which
is considered to be from the Kataka. This is a part of the Kooshmanda
Note
that the word न्त॒न्वा
has a svarita on न्वा. Since the preceding त has an anudatta, this
is a nitya swarita (As defined above)s. The next word स्वायाम् has an udatta on स्वा but the svarita will
not follow the rule of the normal tairovyanjana swarita and the swarita on न्वा will not become an
anudatta. But since 2 nitya swaras, a nitya svarita and an udatta occur
successively a kampa occurs between them. This is one characteristic which
makes this prashnam of the Aranyakam quite atypical compared to the rest of the
Taittriya shaka.
Miscellanous
1. All
the examples have been copied from http://parankusa.org/KrYajurBrowse.aspx
a site developed by Shree Ramanuja Parankushachar my Veda guru. One can find
the pada and karma paata for the entire Samhita. Also, there is excellent
material on other vedas and vedangas like Vyaakaranam.
2. The
kampa is can represented in some texts as
1 comment:
Madam, As I am struggling to learn veda swara and trying to find online help I came across this meticulous article of yours.
Can you suggest some ways of understanding and practising veda swaras / practice online?
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