[Advaita-l] Mantrapushpam > Vedic Education

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

Krishnayajur Veda mantras can be very long like a paragraph. If we
take 50 Padas of very long mantras it will become very difficult for
students. It is 50 words only not Padas.

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 9:01 PM, (Maitreya) Borayin Larios
<shrimaitreya at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear List members,
>
> I very recently joined the list. So I want to breifly introduce myself. My
> name is Maitreya B. Larios. I am a PhD student in classical indology from
> the University of Heidelberg, Germany. I'm currently doing my research on
> the current state of the Vedic tradition in Maharashtra, particularly
> looking at the Vedic schools (vedapāṭhaśālās) in this state. I visited
> around 25 of these schools during my fieldwork in 2009 and have been working
> on the subject since then.
>
> If Subhanu Saxena is still active on this list? In a post he made some time
> ago on Vedic learning, he described the method of recitation as per
> theTaittirīyaśākhā, and wrote the following:
>
> *Also to aid memorisation, there is usually a break every 50 words*, *where
> there will be a pause in recitation as if it were the end of a sentence. At
> the end of the section concerned, the phrases at the breaks are repeated,
> and the phrase at the final break is then followed by the number of words
> that exist till the end of the section.  Finally, at the end of a kanda, the
> 1st words of each anuvaka are repeated, as an aid to memorise the sequence
> of anuvakas*
>
>
> I have a technical question. If my memory doesn't fail me according to the
> vaidikas I visited in Maharashtra, the "break" he is describing is
> technically called "pañcāśat" (Skt for 50), but instead of "words", my
> informants say it refers to 50 pādas (quarter of a verse) and not to words.
> We must remember that in the saṁhitā text the words are joined by sandhi, so
> that it becomes difficult for the pupil to count the individual
> words.The pādas,
> on the other hand, are relatively easy to count and are not dependent on the
> break of sandhi. So my question is, whether the described "break" also
> refers to the pañcāśat of pādas, or if he could elucidate how they count the
> words if their are joined by sandhi?
>
> I am very much interested in obtaining detailed descriptions from members of
> the list who have learned the veda in the traditional method on how they
> received instruction (or eventually teach themselves). For instance, I have
> observed that the ṛgvedins initially repeat the pāda (or a fraction of
> it)three times after the guru, instead of two like the yajurvedins.
>
> If Subhanu Saxena is still active on the list, I would really appreciate if
> he responded to this issue. Any other contributions on the topic are most
> welcomed.
>
> Thank you.
> Best,
> Maitreya Larios
> ---
> विद्या ददाति विनयं विनयाद्याति पात्रताम् ।
> पात्रत्वाद्धनमाप्नोति धनाद्धर्मं ततः सुखम् ॥
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh