Journey Through the Vedic Vintage

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Vedas are the embodiments of knowledge which is believed to have been passed on from gods themselves.They are classified into four types based on the mode of "adyayanam"(practice).These are Rig Veda,Yajurveda,Samaveda and Atharvana Veda.Each of these branches of vedas is an ocean in itself.

  

Of the four,Yajurveda is the most commonly practised one and is further classified into

KrishnaYajurveda and Shuklayajurveda.The high level details of these vedic shakhas is depicted below(click to enlarge):

Thoughts and sound are closely interrelated.The thoughts manifests itself through various sounds.Thus vedaadhyam involves worshipping the supreme force by recitals which in turn are thought manifestations.A vedaadhyayi is prescribed to be highly disciplined in his charyas(actions) and devout in actions.It is believed that any action which is executed with a sense of pure mind and offering to the lord will have a lasting impact."Gayatri upasana"(Worship of Gayatri) through Trikalasandhyavandanam(Sandyavandanam 3 times a day) constitutes the founding aspect of higher vedic pursuits.To pursue vedas without sandyavandanam is equivalent to attempting the construction of multistoried tower without building the foundation.Since vedas emphasises on worship by recital,the mode in which these recitals needs to be done warrants special mention.

Swaras in Vedic RecitalVedas again have very strict guidelines with respect to the way it needs to be recited.There are specific tonal variations referred to as "swaras" associated with each word of the recital.These swaras could be any one of the four listed below:

1.Udatham-Udhatha swaram is to be recited with a moderate tonal frequency.The letter which are to be recited in swaritham are not marked out separately in the written form.
2.Anudhatham-Anudhatha swaram is to be recited with a lower tonal frequency.The letter with Anudatha swaram is indicated with a _ at the base of it in the written form.
3.Swaritham-This swaram represents a higher tonal frequency and the letter with this swaram is to be recited at the higher pitch.Those letters which follows swaritham is designated with a _ at the top of it in the written form
4.Deerghaswaritham-This swara is a higher order form of swaritham and is recited with an extra emphasis,These words are indicated with the symbol " at the top of it.

Let us take a simple example of Mantrapushpam to understand this.Mantrapushpam is a hymn from Yajurveda that expounds the significance of water and is chanted in chorus towards the closing part of a pooja.The first stanza goes like this :

Yopam puspam veda
Puspavan prajavan pasuvan bhavati
Chandramava Apam pushpam
Pushpavan, Prajavan pasuman bhavati
Ya Evam Veda
Yopa mayatanam Veda
Ayatanavan bhavati

In the first line the word "Yopam" is chanted with two tonal frequencies.The "Yo" with a moderatetonal frequency ie Udattam.The second part "Pam" is chanted with higher tonal frequency ie Swaritham.In the second line the word "prajavan" is split into two parts namely "praja" and "van".The "van" part is chanted with an extra emphasis of the higher tonal frequency which is the deerghaswaritham.Thus the entire beauty of the vedic recital comes from the tonal variation attached to each and every word involved.

Higher forms of Vedic Recital
As indicated in the diagram, the higher levels of recital(from padam) is possible only for the 44 Prashnams which falls under the Samhithai.This is because these are not available as vakyams and hence can be broken down to lower levels(padams which can be rearranged in specific sequences to derive higher forms).Moolam forms the fundamental way of recital by means of swaras and is applicable for all vedic recitals except slokas which do not have swaras.The higher forms(starting from padam) is applicable only for Samhithai.The recital gets progressively more complex as we move from one level to another.These levels are:

1.Moolam-This is the most basic form of recital which involves chanting the vedas in the normal way by employing the four swaras as espounded above

2.Padam-When vedam is recited as "Padam",each of the word is split further based on gramatical rules and is chanted in the the predefined swara.There are clear rules in sanskrit which govern as to how words needs to be split

3.Kramam-In Kramam the recital is done in a chain formation.The words are again split here like padam,but they are recited in a linked format.The last words of a given chain forms the first word of the subsequent chain and thus the chain continues.The Kramam formation goes like
                                                                             12 23 34 45...

4.Jatai-In Jatai the split words are chanted in a particular combination.Say a given word is splt into 2 parts namely 1 and 2.The Jatai formation goes like

12212

5.Ghanam-Ghanam takes the higher form of Jatai.Here a given words which is splt into 3 parts namely 1,2 and 3 is recited in the formation:

1221123321123

6.Varunakramam-It is said that the varunakramam is the most advanced form of vedic chanting.Only a counted few in the world have mastered this form of recital.This form of recital involves splitting each letter into its minutest component.

Watch this beautiful video for the recital of the sacred Gayatri Mantra in these higher orders:

Veda is a huge ocean which takes lifetimes to transcend.It is one of the method for discovering oneself and consequently the ultimate truth.Pursuit of vedas is akin to worshipping the panchabhutas which constitutes to each and every living/non living entity in this universe. Thus vedaadyanam boils down to worshipping oneself and hence the principle "aham brahmasmi".The worship of self comprises of 3 vital components namely body,speech and mind as expounded in Bhagavad Gita.

1.Worship of gods,teachers,cleanliness,simplicity and non-injury-This forms the worship of the BODY
2.Words which are truthful,pleasent,beneficial and causes no offence in addition to worship of scriptures-constitutes worship of SPEECH
3.Serenity of mind,gentleness,Silence,self control and purity of heart- constitutes worship of MIND