Longer meters, yati and sandhi

[Guest guest]

Dear list members,

 

In the back of Apte's Practical Sanskrit English Dictionary there is a

section on Sanskrit prosody where he gives definitions and examples of the

various sanskrit meters. In his definitions in addition to the gaNas of the

meters he gives the yatis - "the pause that may be made in reciting a

quarter or verse".

 

So for zArdUlavikrIDita he gives 12,7 for the yatis . I.e. a yati after the

12th syllable and a yati at the end of the pada .

 

In any long meter can you pause for breath at any yati that isn't at the

end of a pada? (Are you supposed to take a breath pause there or is it

optional?) And if you pause for breath there, then do you break sandhi in

your recitation if possible?

 

I notice in looking at the Kundalini Stavah that in most cases (but not all)

there are natural breaks after the 12th syllable in each pada. Out of 32

lines, the twelfth syllable ends in a word break in 25 lines, a stem of a

compound in 4 lines, but in the middle of a word in 3 lines.

 

Also that the hymn is constructed so that the ends of most 1st and 3rd

padas of the verses are the same whether considered as "in pausa" or

connected to the next pada. There are 4 exceptions to this. The exceptions

are two padas ending in anusvara, one pada changing visarga to " r " , but

also the opposite case (verse 6, pada 3) which is considered as "in pausa"

and not coalesced with a following vowel to preserve the meter.

 

Thanks,

 

Harry Spier

371 Brickman Rd.

Hurleyville, New York

USA 12747

 

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[Guest guest]

Harry Spier has raised an interesting question. My general sense is

that the mid-paada yati becomes necessary as the length of a paada

starts increasing beyond a certain minimum number of syllables per

paada. By the same token, a yati at the end of the paada becomes

natural. The Vedic recitational unit of an ardharca 'half Rc,

combining the first two paadas', without a break at the end of the

first paada, was gradually lost, perhaps not completely but indeed

substantially, as the length of the paadas gradually increased beyond

the norm of Vedic meters. This perhaps manifests in the optional

treatments at the end of the first paada.

 

Madhav Deshpande

 

INDOLOGY, "Harry Spier" <harryspier@H...> wrote:

> Dear list members,

>

> In the back of Apte's Practical Sanskrit English Dictionary there is a

> section on Sanskrit prosody where he gives definitions and examples

of the

> various sanskrit meters. In his definitions in addition to the gaNas

of the

> meters he gives the yatis - "the pause that may be made in reciting a

> quarter or verse".

>

> So for zArdUlavikrIDita he gives 12,7 for the yatis . I.e. a yati

after the

> 12th syllable and a yati at the end of the pada .

>

> In any long meter can you pause for breath at any yati that isn't

at the

> end of a pada? (Are you supposed to take a breath pause there or is it

> optional?) And if you pause for breath there, then do you break

sandhi in

> your recitation if possible?

>

> I notice in looking at the Kundalini Stavah that in most cases (but

not all)

> there are natural breaks after the 12th syllable in each pada. Out

of 32

> lines, the twelfth syllable ends in a word break in 25 lines, a stem

of a

> compound in 4 lines, but in the middle of a word in 3 lines.

>

> Also that the hymn is constructed so that the ends of most 1st and 3rd

> padas of the verses are the same whether considered as "in pausa" or

> connected to the next pada. There are 4 exceptions to this. The

exceptions

> are two padas ending in anusvara, one pada changing visarga to " r "

, but

> also the opposite case (verse 6, pada 3) which is considered as "in

pausa"

> and not coalesced with a following vowel to preserve the meter.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Harry Spier

> 371 Brickman Rd.

> Hurleyville, New York

> USA 12747

>

> _______________

> FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now!

> http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/