Samaveda

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The Samaveda (Sanskrit: सामवेद, sāmaveda, a tatpurusha compound of sāman "melody" + veda "knowledge" ), is third in the usual order of enumeration of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1000 BC.

The Samaveda ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda or Veda of Recited Praise. Its Samhita, or metrical portion, consists chiefly of hymns to be sung by the Udgatar priests at the performance of those important sacrifices in which the juice of the Soma plant, clarified and mixed with milk and other ingredients, is offered in libation to various deities.

The Collection is made up of hymns, portions of hymns, and detached verses, all but 75 taken from the Rigveda. They have been transposed and re-arranged, without reference to their original order, to suit the rituals in which they were to be employed. The verses are not intended to be recited but sung by using specifically indicated melodies employing the seven svaras or notes. Such songs are called Samagana.

In these compiled Samans there are frequent variations from the text of the Rigveda. These variations are in some cases explanatory but preserve in some instances an older pronunciation (such as [ai] for common [e]) than that of the traditional Rigveda. In Saman singing, the verses are still further altered by prolongation, repetition and insertion of stray syllables (stobha), and various modulations, rests, and other modifications. These are prescribed in the Ganas or Song-books. Two of these manuals, the Gramageyagana 'settlement' and the Aranyagana 'wilderness song-book', follow the order of the verses of part I of the Sanhita, and two others, the Uhagana, the Uhyagana, of Part II. This part is generally arranged in triplets whose first verse is often the repetition of a verse that has occurred in part I.

Contents

[edit] Recensions

R. T. H. Griffith says that there are three recensions of the text of the Samaveda Samhita:[1]

  • the Kauthuma recension is current in Gujerat, and since a few decades in Darbhanga, Bihar,
  • the Jaiminiya in the Carnatic and Kerala,
  • and the Rāṇāyanīya in the Maharatta country.

While the Kauthuma recension has been published (Samhita, Brahmana, Shrautasutra and ancillary Sutras, mainly by the late B.R. Sharma), parts of the Jaiminiya tradition remain unpublished [2]. There is an edition of the first part of the Samhita by W. Caland [3] and of the Brahmana by Raghu Vira and Lokesh Chandra [4], as well as the neglected Upanishad [5], but only parts of the Shrautasutra. The song books remain unpublished [6] and the tradition is rapidly fading. However, an edition is now being prepared by some well-known Samaveda specialists.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Griffith, R. T. H. The Sāmaveda Saṃhitā. p. vi. op. cit.
  2. ^ A. Parpola. The literature and study of the Jaiminīya Sāmaveda. In retrospect and prospect. Studia Orientalia XLIII:6. Helsinki 1973
  3. ^ W. Caland, Die Jaiminīya-Saṃhitā mit einer Einleitung über die Sāmaveda-literatur. Breslau 1907
  4. ^ Raghu Vira and Lokesh Chandra. 1954. Jaiminīya-Brāhmaṇa of the Sāmaveda. (Sarasvati-Vihara Series 31.) Nagpur. 2nd revised ed., Delhi 1986
  5. ^ H. Oertel. The Jaiminīya or Talavakāra Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa. Text, translation, and notes. JAOS 16,1895, 79-260
  6. ^ A. Parpola. The decipherment of the Samavedic notation of the Jaiminīyas. Finnish Oriental Society 1988

[edit] See also

[edit] Books

  • The Samaveda has been edited and published by Theodor Benfey (Leipzig, 1848, with a German translation) and by Satyavrata Samashrami in Bibl. Ind. (Calcutta, 1873). An English translation is due to Griffith (Benares, 1893). A translation in Hindi by Mridul Kirti called "Samveda Ka Hindi Padyanuvad" has also been published recently.
  • Griffith, Ralph T. H. The Sāmaveda Saṃhitā. Text, Translation, Commentary & Notes in English. Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith. First published 1893; Revised and enlarged edition, enlarged by Nag Sharan Singh and Surendra Pratap, 1991 (Nag Publishers: Delhi, 1991) ISBN 81-7081-244-5. This edition provides the text in Devanagari with full metrical marks needed for chanting.

[edit] External links