RE: Why were scriptures and classic texts written in verseform? [curiosity]

July 23, 2006

Dear Ranjan ji

I presume it for easier transmission (as part of oral tradition) from one generation to another.

regards / Prafulla Gang

Our life is a great movie, we direct it, we produce it, and we star in it. So turn off the TV and live your life!!

>

> Sun, 23 Jul 2006 00:20:23 -0000

>

> Why were scriptures and classic texts written in verse

> form? [curiosity]

>

> I had asked this same question on Sri KN Rao's jyotish group. It is a

> smaller forum and I got one answer that perhaps jyotish classics and

> scriptures were exclusively written in verse form to make it easier

> to memorize. Given that much of the earlier transmission was oral,

> this does seem plausible. The only way to preserve knowledge was for

> generations to memorize everything. Of course then humans discovered

> writing and memory became weaker from lack of use.

>

> But it must have been really confusing for some of the codified text

> (like Jaimini sutram written in the katapayadi format/style which has

> to be 'descrambled' to get the true meaning. Lot of mental gymnastics

> indeed!

>

> But one wonders! If human beings had discovered writing when all

> these knowledges were revealed, like jyotish, would we still have

> needed the verse format or everything would have been written in

> elaborate manner with explanations and avoiding all the guesswork and

> extrapolation that needs to be done now to learn and apply astrology.

>

> RR

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