Showing posts with label R. Ramanathan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label R. Ramanathan. Show all posts

Friday, January 26, 2024

The Nyaya / Vaisheshika Darshanas (Guest post by R. Ramanathan)

The Nyaya & Vaisheshika darshanas are astika  darshanas (That agree with Vedic authority) that used “Realism” to explain worldly phenomenon and also provided solution as to how does one attain Moksha (known as Apavarga) from worldly life. Other darshanas like Sankhya Yoga etc used “idealism” to explain worldly phenomenon.  Sage Gautama wrote the Nyaya sutras on which the Nyaya darshana or what is called as “Prachina Nyaya” or “Ancient Nyaya”, was formalized. The Vaisheshika darshana was established on the Vaisheshika sutras were written by Sage Kaanatha.


Nyaya darshana 

This is more concerned with epistemological analysis (Sources of right knowledge), or “Pramana Shashtra”. There are 4 pramanas or valid sources of knowledge as per Nyaya

1.     Pratyaksha (Direct perception)

2.     Anumana inference

3.     Upamana(Comparision)

4.     Oral testimony (Shruti or statements of trustworthy people)

Moksha according Nyaya was attained via correct knowledge and removal of delusion. This resulted in acquiring the correct knowledge of the “Atman “or self.  Gautama also in the Nyaya sutras recommends Yogic practices to attain self-knowledge or Atma saakshatkaara (Nyaya sutras 4.2.46). Nyaya does not accept of the existence of a bliss in Moksha. Naiyayikas accept god and have tried to use logic to prove the existence of god.

The main contribution of Nyaya is the 5-part Syllogism called “Pancha Avayava Nyaya”. They are,

1.     The Pratijna (Proposition) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.33

2.     The Hetu (Reason or middle term) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.34 and 35

3.     Udaharanam (Example) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.36 and 37

4.     Upanayah (Application) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.38

5.     Nigamanam (Conclusion) Nyaya Sutr. 1.1.39

We will see this in detail in the subsequent article.


 Vaisheshika darshana 

This deals more with the physical world and can be called “Pada Shastra” or the science of categories.  The Vaisheshika school postulates one of the most ancient “Atomic theory”. This school accepts that matter especially, the first 4 pancha bhootas, air, fire, water and earth are composed of atoms. The smallest indivisible atom being called a paramaanu which is eternal. This paramaanu combines to form “Dvyanu” or a diad of atoms, “Tryanu” or triad and so on. Also, it deals with many physical phenomena like the absorption of water in the stem of a plant and so on. Vaisheshika accepts only 2 pramanas

1.     Pratyaksha (Direct perception)

2.     Anumana(Inference)

Vaisheshika too accepts and Ishvara, who is the arranger of atoms (Note, not the creator of atoms). Moksha in Vaisheshika as per the Vaisheshika sutras is atma sakshakaara through correct knowledge and removal of delusion.  The difference between Moksha in Nyaya and Vaisheshika’s is that Vaisheshikas accept an experience Bliss” in Moksha


Similarities between Nyaya and Vaisheshika

1.     Both accept and logically prove god as creator of world

2.     Both accept Vedic authority but argue that the Veda is not eternal but have an author

3.     Both accept ignorance as cause of all suffering

4.     Both believe the individual self is eternal, pervasive and infinite

5.     Both believe in plurality of Jivatmas

6.     Both believe in moksha for the Atman


Differences between Nyaya and Vaisheshika

1.     Nyaya accepts 4 pramanas, Vaisheshika accepts 2 pramanas

2.     Nyaya deals with pramana shastra and logic. Vaisheshika with ontology or Padaarthas

Prachina Nyaya is very abstruse and difficult to understand an apply. Thus, In the 13th century Gangesha in his work “Tathva Chintamani”, fused both Nyaaya and Vaisheshika to originate what was called “Navya Nyaya”. 

Later Raghunatha Shiromani, Gadhadhara Bhattacharya, Vasudeva Sarvabhauma etc all formalized this school. Navya Nyaya was really a versatile tool and it could be used to solve problems using inference and logic.  No wonder many other fields were affected by this. This approached spawned of a “Navya Vyaakarana” and a “Navya Mimamsa”.  This even spread to Kavya, alankara shastra etc.

The Dvaita vedanta school of Madhvacharya started adopting navya nyaya to formalize their schools. Vyasatheerta an acharya of the Madhva sampradaya, wrote Nayaymruta that condemned Advaita. It was almost shaken to its roots until Madhusudhana Saraswati of Bengal, using the same Navya Nyaya gave a rebuttal to the Nayamrutaa, with his work “Advaitasiddhi”.

So, for the purpose of this article we will be discussing Navya Nyaya only as the praachina Nyaya sutras and Vaisheshika sutras are too abstruse and complex to understand now.

Annam Bhatta around the 17th century composed a work called “Tarka Sangraha”, a very simple book based on Navya Nyaya, intended as per his Mangala shloka, “To teach Nyaya very comfortably to children”. “Tarka” is another synonym for Nyaya. Generally, the word means “Debate”, “logic”, “Inference” etc.  This is the book that is currently taught as a beginner’s text and so the concepts referenced in this article are from that book.

To be continued…

 (PS: Click the tag 'R. Ramanathan' in the side bar to read other articles by Sri. R. Ramanathan)

 

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Astika darshanas: A primer (Guest post by R. Ramanathan)

The 4 Vedas contain the mystical/spiritual experiences of various Rishis. Most of these are in the form of Mantras addressed to a deity or devata. The Veda also has a detailed description of rituals called Yajnas to attain.  Apart from these there are a large body of texts called the Upanishads most of which appear at the end of each Vedic recension (Of course there are exceptions) that discuss esoteric spiritual doctrines, like self-realization etc. Also discussed are a multitude of topics like morals/ethics for every day living, astronomy, Grammar etc.

Many sages and thinkers had various views of what the Veda had to say in finality. These views over time started to crystalize into concrete systems of thought called “Darshanas”.   The Sanskrit word Darshana means literally view or insight. Note that the view Darshana is not same as the word Philosophy. “Philosophy” in the western tradition, is mainly intellectual. It does not seem to concern itself with teleological problems, AKA in the Vedic tradition as attainment of Moksha or relief from existential problems. A darshana discusses existential problems and proposes solutions for the same. So, I will refrain from using the term “Philosophy” here.

There are 6 Astika Darshanas

1.     Nyaya also called Anvikshiki or logic

2.     Vaisheshika, actually the study of mater discusses physical phenomenon)

3.     Sankhya, Enumeration or counting of various tattvas and through this separation of existence from matter, through intellectual enquiry alone.

4.     Yoga, a practical application of Sankhya to attain kaivalya or apavarga(Moksha)

5.     Poorva Mimamsa, a hermeneutical system concerned with interpretation of Vedic statements, used for correct performance of Vedic rituals and to attain the fruits of those performances.

6.     Uttar Mimamsa, popularly known as Vedanta now, concerned with the relation of the Jivatma and paramatma and how can apavarga or Moksha be attained.

All these 6 Darshanas are based on the authority of the Veda and hence called “Astika” as they accept the statements of the Veda like the existence of the Atma, Dharma etc. Note Astika does not mean the acceptance of a god as commonly understood. Some Darshanas do not accept a god or just barely mention his existence. This article is just a primer or an introduction to each Darshana and does not go into detail of each. That would need a separate article of its own.  Neither is the concept of pramanas introduced here. It will be done in detail in another article

Nyaya

The Nyaya system (Literally meaning “Rules” or “Justice”) concerns itself with epistemology or what is called “Pramana” and logic, called syllogism in the west. Sage Gautama has written the Nyaya sutras which discusses the 16 categories called “Padaartha”. These sutras are called “Praachina Nyaya” or ancient Nyaya, which is different from Navya Nyaya in vogue at present
 Naiyayikas (People who follow the Nyaya Darshana) hold that human suffering is due to the mistakes/defects produced by actions with the “Wrong knowledge”. Moksha according to them is the gaining of the right knowledge thus being able to avoid pain in the future. Thus, this theory is based on realism.


Nyaya has contributed the “Five-part syllogism” as to how does one arrive at an inference, that involves,

1.     Pratijna, the statement to be proved

2.     Hetu, the reason

3.     Udaharana another similar example to the Pratijna

4.     Upanaya reaffirmation

5.     Nigamana or conclusion

All this to be discussed in detail later. Note the Dvaita Vedanta school is heavily reliant on the Navya Nyaya or “New school of Nyaya”

Vaisheshika

The Vaisheshika darshana is a naturalistic system. Rishi Kanaata Kashyapa wrote the Vaisheshika sutras.  Vaisheshika accepts 7 categories of substances unlike Nyaya. The Vaisheshikas propose that the physical universe is reducible to the paramanu, the smallest atom. The entire universe is built up by a combination of various atoms. Worldly experiences arise from the spatial arrangement of atoms, their number etc. Many interesting phenomena like gravity, the absorption of water by plant stems etc are taken up for discussion. The Vaisheshikas propose that Moksha can be attained by a complete understanding of the worldly experience. The Vaisheshika sutras even advocate following the meditative practices of the “Yogachaara” school of Buddhism for Moksha.

In the 13th century after the CE Nyaya and Vaisheshika fused into a single school called Navya Nyaya resulting in the classical Nyaya darshana. This was the accomplishment of one Gangesha Upadhyaya of Mithila desha, though his book Tattvachintamani. Navya-Nyāya developed a sophisticated language and conceptual scheme that allowed it to raise, analyse, and solve problems in logic and epistemology.

Sankhya

This darshana views reality composed of 2 independent principles.

1.     Prakriti, nature or matter, including the human mind

2.     Purusha, is the witnessing conscious entity. It is independent of matter and above the experience of the senses or the mind

When prakriti is in an unmanifested state, the 3 gunas Satva, Rajas and Tamas are in equilibrium. But due to some reason if Prakriti comes into contact with purusha, mayhem starts and prakriti manifests into 23 tatvas.
1. Intellect 2. Ego 3. Mind 4. The five sensory capacities known as ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose 5. The five action capacities known as hasta, pada, bak, anus, and upastha 6. The 5 subtle tanmatras, which are the seeds for the gross elements like space, earth, fire, water, air etc


Thus, all human experiences can be considered to be the interaction between prakriti and purusha.  Ignorance of the Purusha that it is unattached with matter is the cause for suffering. Moksha consists of understanding that the purusha is independent of prakriti.


Sage Kapila is supposed to have composed the Sankhya sutras and Ishvara Krishna supposed to have composed a Karika for this. Note that there are both theistic and atheistic schools of Sankhya. Generally, the Sankhya Sutras and Karika do not accept a god but accept mature individuals who attain to the level of gods. The Bhagavata purana teaches a theistic version of Sankhya adding “Ishvara” or god to the 23 evolutes of prakriti. Note that advaita and Vishistadvaita vedantas owe their existence to the sankhya darshanas as they accept many aspects of material creation. Advaita especially relies on sankya for the ideas of Avidya, gunas and the idea that moksha can be attained with intellectual enquiry alone.


Yoga

This is one of the most presently popular darshanas
especially in the west. Note there are different schools of Yoga like the Shaivite school, schools from various Agamas etc. But specifically, when Yoga is meant as a darshana, it is based on the yoga sutras of Patanjali. 


This is also popularly known as the Ashtanga yoga school, or the yoga of 8 limbs. The theoretical frame for the yoga sutra is Sankhya and the definition of moksha in yoga is the same as in Sankhya . The eight limbs are,

1. Yama 2. Niyama 3. Asana 4. Pranayama 5. Pratyahara 6. Dharana 7. Dhyana 8. Samadhi

The 1st two limbs mostly prescribe the ethical and moral purity one needs to follow like, non-covetousness, control of senses, charity etc. Patanjali accepts an Ishvara and he is characterized by his syllable “OM”. Ishvara pranidhana or dedication to Ishvara is one of the steps mentioned as part of Niyama.  Note that Patanjali though mentions an Ishvara, he never mentions him as the bestowing moksha.

The 3rd step is the most popular one, again especially in the West where Yoga has become synonymous with Asana. Various complex poses are taught in the west, which are not mentioned by Patanjali. They are found in the Hata Yoga pradeepaka or the Geeranda Samhita, basically Hata yoga texts, which again are purificatory texts to make the aspirant fit for Ashatanga yoga. Patanjali only prescribes “Sukhasana” or just a comfortable pose for meditation.

The 4th step is pranayama which involves breath control.

The 5th step involves withdrawal of the senses.

The 6th step sublimating the mind such that it can contemplate steadily on the goal, without breaking. Just a like when oil is poured the oil flows steadily without a break.

The 7th step is focussing the mind on the purusha.

The last step is when the mind has ceased its vacillations and the Purusha alone shines forth, separated from Prakriti. This is the state of Moksha or apavarga or Kaivalya. At this stage the sadhaka is freed from the cares of worldly existence.

Note Patanjali Yoga sutras also discusses about various yoga siddhis or powers to be attained but those are distractions to the main goal.


Poorva Mimamsa

This darshana is a hermeneutical school that concerns itself with the correct performance of various rites prescribed in the Veda to attain various fruits like heaven, progeny, wealth. Rishi Jaimini is the pioneer of this school, having composed the Poorva Mimamsa sutras. Among the four human purushartas or goals, this darshana concerns itself with a deeper enquiry of dharma. This school postulates that through Dharma one can attain higher regions of experience thus reducing the pain of earthly existence.

This darshans has developed sophisticated rules based on grammar and logic along with its own rules for sentence interpretation. Mimamsa is especially concerned with correct sentence formation. Whereas grammar or Vyakarana is concerned with the origin of words.

Note that Jaimini does not care much to discuss about moksha in the poorva mimamsa sutras or does not postulate the need for a God to disburse the fruits of vedic karma to their performers. According to this school Moksha is an extreme state of absence of pain. Moksha can happen only when the individual soul has zeroed down its karmic balance. Thus, one has to continue to perform his mandated Vedic rite without expecting fruits to keep sin at bay and avoid performing karma with desire. Thus, when the resultant karmic balance is zero, one attains moksha, a state where one is not born again.

After Jaimini and in the medieval times, many theistic schools of Poorva mimamsa came into being. Like Vedant deshikas “Seshvara mimamsa” etc.

This school has a sophisticated language theory. This has resulted in this school being used in artificial intelligence. One such application is the usage of the tenets of this darshana to teach unmanned cars ethics, using what is called deontic logic. For more info go to https://mimamsa.logic.at/

Uttara Mimamsa or Vedanta

This also a very popular darshana in modern times, especially advaita Vedanta. This darshana mainly talks about Moksha based on the Upanishads, Brahma sutra and the Bhagavat Geetha called prasthana trayam.  There are 3 main schools of Vedanta

Advaita:
The most famous proponent of this darshana is Shankaracharya. He wrote a commentary from an Advaitic perspective for the Brahma sutras, Upanishads an the Geetha. Note that advaita existed even before Shankara. For example, it is evident from the Vaakypadiya text from Bartruhari the celebrated Grammarian that, even Vaiyakaranas or grammarians followed advaita with some differences from the Shankara school.

This school considers the Jivatman(Individual self) and he paramatman(Supreme self) to be one. Moksha is the realization by the Jiva that he is not limited and is not different from the paramatma in terms of consciousness. As per the Shankara school, worldly experiences happen due to the misidentification of the individual self with the body. Moksha can be attained now in this life by realizing that one is not the body but the eternal atman. On loosing one’s identity with the body one enters a state of tranquillity. Advaita can be theistic or atheistic as moksha is not dependant on an Ishvare. Shankar prefers a theistic approach, where the grace of god is needed to realizing one’s own self as the “parabrahman”. Texts like the Yoga Vasishta explicitly state that such a realization is one’s own effort.


Vishistadvaita
Ramanuja was the main proponent of this school and wrote commentaries for the Brahma sutra, Geetha and the Upanishads from a Vishitadvait perspective. But through the compositions of the Azhwars or vaishnavite saints, called Divya prabhandam, the school existed earlier than Ramanuja. This school is a theistic school of Vedanta as it posits that Ishvara can only bestow moksha.  According to this darshana, the Jiva is an amsha of the paramatma, just like small sparks are an amsha of the main fire source. This school of Vedanta prescribes sharanagati or surrendering to Ishvara and a lifelong service to him. After the present life is over, the devotee reaches vaikuntam and enjoys the bliss of the lord, still maintaining his distinct identity with Ishvara.


Dvaita:
This too is a theistic school and presupposes a God that can give Moksha. The main acharya of this school is Madhvacharya who again wrote a commentary on the Prasthana trayam from a Dvaitic point of view. This school is heavily based on Nyaya. This school consider the Jiva and paramatma to be entirely different. It mainly teaches the differences between matter, individual Jivas and paramatma. Moksha according to this school can be attained with the grace of Hari and Krishna Bhakti. After the present life ends the devotee attains the abode of Ishvara and each devotee enjoys bliss in proportion to the capability of the Individual jivas, the separation between Jiva and Ishvara Astika Darshanas – Ramanathan intact.

Note each school of Vedanta have different sub sects and this article will not discuss all that.


Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Discussion on "Kampa" (Vedic intonation) in the Taittriya Shaka (Guest post by R.Ramanathan)


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 and , when occurring at the end of a word (पदान्तादति), and if followed by a short , this short gets absorbed into the previous or . We can give another ashtadhyayi sutra only, as example. For

स्थाने ऽन्तरतम = स्थाने + अन्तरतमः

The at the end of the word स्थाने absorbs the succeeding short
Example for : Take another sutra itself for an example

एचो ऽयवायावः = एच: + अयवायावः

The terminal of the first word absorbs the succeeding short


Yan sandhi

The ashtadhayi sutra for this sandhi
इको यणचि -6.1.77e

The meaning:

The vowels in the set इक (Which has  लृ and its dheerga forms) and set of all vowels अच: are replaced with the consonants in the set यण (This contains with its dheerga forms).

Examples are

यदि + अपि = यद्यपि ( is replaced with )
गुरु + आदेश: = गुर्वादेश: ( is replaced by )
पितृ + उपदेश: = पित्रुपदेश: ( is replaced )
लृ + आकृति: = लाकृति: (लृ is replaced with )

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 मो॒ नमो॑ मृग॒युभ्यः॑. The highlighted portion indicates the transformation of the TVS into an anudatta because the next 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
ब्रा॒ह्म॒: + अ॒स्य = ब्रा॒ह्म॒णो(||)ऽस्य॒ मुख॑मासीत्

The : has an udatta. Due to “rutva sandhi” on the visarga : changes to णो. The अ॒ (short ) in अ॒स्य has anudatta. Applying the rules of Abhinihita sandhi, the अ॒ gets absorbed into the previous णो indicated by the ““. 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
अ॒भ्य॑म्रियत॒ = अ॒भी + अ॒म्रि॒य॒त॒

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.

वृ॒त्रम॑ह॒न्थ्सोऽपो 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 ह्येषो॑ऽभि
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

यत्र॑ सु॒हार्द॑स्सु॒कृतो॒ मद॑न्ते वि॒हाय॒ रोग॑न्त॒न्वा स्वायाम्

Note that the word न्त॒न्वा has a svarita on न्वा. Since the preceding 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