[Advaita-l] On pronouncing the anusvAra (was Re: SRI SUKTAM - Meaning)

[Siva Senani Nori]

Sarvebhyo namah

First, in the version of Sree Sooktam popular in the circles that I am exposed to (AP, smaartas), the common pronounciation is "paSoonaagM roopamannasya"; that said the Sree Sooktam seems to have the most variances in texts and svaras. Some people chant even the phalastuti with svaras. I am not sure Sree Sooktam is a part of the Krishna Yajurveda; it is said to be in the khila bhaaga of the Rig Veda.

The introduction of 'g' into the anusvaara is an interesting topic. I would like to point out that contrary to what Sri Br. Pranipata Chaitanya said, the anusvaara does not change when followed by mahaapraaNas. Examples: "karNaabhyaam bhoori viSruvam" (Tai. Up., Seekshaavalli, 4th anuvaaka - the same anuvaaka has "vaasaagmsi mama gaavaSca"). There are a number of other examples in the taittireeya samhitaa of words starting with 'bha' following the nominal, accusative and the genitive forms ending in the anusvaara as in 'annam bhavati' (5-7-10-3), 'tushneem bhavishyat' (6-1-9-6) and 'bhraatriiNaam bhaagadeyam' (6-2-8-5). **

The taittireeya praatiSaakhya holds the anusvaara to be short; now when it is next to a syllable of equal effort (savarNa), as per rules of sandhi, the short anusvaara is elongated. Thus, what is written as 'gam' or 'gm' is the elongated anusvaara. I am unable to recollect where I read this Sandhi sutra and so am unable to quote the source. If somebody is interested, I will try more to get hold of it (hoping to do so from the ashTadhyaayee or the siddhaanta kaumudi).

In the krishNayajurveda, whenever the anusvaara is followed by s, S, sh or h - even in the middle of a word - it is elongated to gam / gm. Examples: sagmhitaa, chandaagmsi, yajoogmshi etc. (All of these occur either in the Tai. Up. or the Purusha Sookta). Other examples include 'ogum Somiti' (Tai. Up., Si. Va., 8th anuvaaka), idagum sarvam and paa~Nktagum spriNoti (Tai. Up., Si. Va., 7th anuvaaka). 

When the anusvaara occurs at the end of a word and is immediately followed by r, it elongates. Ex: "ye ce maagm rudra abhito dikshu" (from the namakam or rudra praSna). 

A detailed description of the changes in the anusvaara, without any attempt to explain though, is available at: http://www.geocities.com/somasushma/anusvAra.html

Further, this elongated anusvaara being pronounced as gam/gm seems to be limited to the taittireeyaas, and a few other recensions of the yajurveda. So this change (pronounciation might be a better choice) should not be termed 'chaandasam'.

Senani

** I had searched a pdf of the Tai. Samhitaa in roman script by Ulrich Stiehl available at www.sanskritweb.net with the string "m bh" to find the above references. Since they don't sound (! - even if I am not learned in the vedas) unusual, I have included them without checking with another devanaagari source.


________________________________
From: Pranipata <pranipata at hotmail.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:24:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] SRI SUKTAM - Meaning


Hari Om Shri Bhaskarji,  Pranaams!

The mantrapuShpam book of Ramakrishna Mission, shrIsUktam as per rk samhitA mentions as pashUnAM only.

I do not know whether we can say as a rule w.r.t. chhAndasa but we generally see the anusvAra when followed by UShmavarna(sibilants) / mahAprANa(aspirate), changes to gm

I also await comments/confirmation from this group.

In Shri Guru Smriti,
Br. Pranipata Chaitanya

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Bhaskar YR" <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 10:27 AM
To: <kamesh_ccmb at yahoo.co.in>; "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] SRI SUKTAM - Meaning

> praNAms
> Hare Krishna
> 
> I think this transliterated sri sUktaM is from Krishna yajurveda ...As we
> know in yajurveda maNtra-s we often use *gam/gm* (Isvareegam sarva bhutAnAm
> in sri sUktaM, durgAm deveegaM sharaNam ahaM prapadya sutarasi tarase namaH
> in durga sUktaM, purusha evedagaM sarvam in purusha sUkta etc.)
> 
> But here in the translietated keys Iśhvarígm is what we also chant...but we
> chant pashoonAm rUpamannasya and not pashoonAgam (Paśhūnágm rūpam annasya)
> is it one of the pAThAntara-s?? Kindly clarify.
> 
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
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