{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe32/sbe3214.htm","path":"hin/sbe32/sbe3214.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe32/sbe3214.htm","text":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32), by Max M\u00fcller, [1891]\nLet us now turn back for one moment to look at the slaughter which has been committed! Is there one single rule of prosody that has been spared? Is there one single short syllable that must always remain short, or a long syllable that must always remain long? If all restrictions of prosody are thus removed, our metres, no doubt, become perfectly regular. But it should be remembered that these metrical rules, for which all this carnage has been committed, are not founded upon any a priori principles, but deduced by ancient or modern metricians from those very hymns which seem so constantly to violate\nthem. Neither ancient nor modern metricians had, as far as we know, any evidence to go upon besides the hymns of the Rig-veda; and the philosophical speculations as to the origin of metres in which some of them indulge, and from which they would fain derive some of their unbending rules, are, as need hardly be said, of no consequence whatever. I cannot understand what definite idea even modern writers connect with such statements as that, for instance, the Trishtubh metre sprang from the Gagat\u00ee metre, that the eleven syllables of the former are an abbreviation of the twelve syllables of the latter. Surely, metres are not made artificially, and by addition or subtraction. Metres have a natural origin in the rhythmic sentiment of different people, and they become artificial and arithmetical in the same way as language with its innate principles of law and analogy becomes in course of time grammatical and artificial. To derive one metre from another is like deriving a genitive from a nominative, which we may do indeed for grammatical purposes, but which no one would venture to do who is at all acquainted with the natural and independent production of grammatical forms. Were we to arrange the Trishtubh and Gagat\u00ee metres in chronological order, I should decidedly place the Trishtubh first, for we see, as it were before our eyes, how sometimes one foot, sometimes two and three feet in a Trishtubh verse admit an additional syllable at the end, particularly in set phrases which would not submit to a Trishtubh ending. The phrase sam no bhava dvipade sam katushpade is evidently a solemn phrase, and we see it brought in without hesitation, even though every other line of the same strophe or hymn is Trishtubh, i. e. hendecasyllabic, not dodecasyllabic. See, for instance, VI, 74, 1; VII, 54, 1; X, 85, 44; 165, 1. However, I maintain by no means that this was the actual origin of Gagat\u00ee metres; I only refer to it in order to show the groundlessness of metrical theories which represent the component elements, a foot of one or two or four syllables as given first, and as afterwards compounded into systems of two, three or four such feet, and who therefore would wish us to look upon the hendecasyllabic Trishtubh as originally a dodecasyllabic Gagat\u00ee, only\ndeprived of its tail. If my explanation of the name of Trishtubh, i. e. Three-step, is right, its origin must be ascribed to a far more natural process than that of artificial amputation. It was to accompany a choros, i. e. a dance, which after advancing freely for eight steps in one direction, turned back (vritta) with three steps, the second of which was strongly marked, and would therefore, whether in song or recitation, be naturally accompanied by a long syllable. It certainly is so in the vast majority of Trishtubhs which have been handed down to us. But if among these verses we find a small number in which this simple and palpable rhythm is violated, and which nevertheless were preserved from the first in that imperfect form, although the temptation to set them right must have been as great to the ancient as it has proved to be to the modern students of the Veda, are we to say that nearly all, if not all, the rules that determine the length and shortness of syllables, and which alone give character to every verse, are to be suspended? Or, ought we not rather to consider, whether the ancient choregic poets may not have indulged occasionally in an irregular movement? We see that this was so with regard to G\u00e2yatr\u00ee verses. We see the greater freedom of the first and second p\u00e2das occasionally extend to the third; and it will be impossible, without intolerable violence, to remove all the varieties of the last p\u00e2da of a G\u00e2yatr\u00ee of which I have given examples above, pages civ seqq.\nIt is, of course, impossible to give here all the evidence that might be brought forward in support of similar freedom Traishtubha Vritta.in Trishtubh verses, and I admit that the number of real varieties with them is smaller than with the G\u00e2yatr\u00ees. In order to make the evidence which I have to bring forward in support of these varieties as unassailable as possible, I have excluded nearly every p\u00e2da that occurs only in the first, second, or third line of a strophe, and have restricted myself, with few exceptions, and those chiefly referring to p\u00e2das that had been quoted by other scholars in support of their own theories, to the final p\u00e2das of Trishtubh verses. Yet even with this limited evidence, I think I shall be able to establish at least three\nvarieties of Trishtubh. Preserving the same classification which I adopted before for the G\u00e2yatr\u00ees, so as to include the important eighth syllable of the Trishtubh, which does not properly belong to the vritta, I maintain that class 4. \u0306 \u0306 \u0304 \u0304, class 5. \u0304 \u0304 \u0304 \u0304, and class 8. \u0304 \u0306 \u0306 \u0304 must be recognised as legitimate endings in the hymns of the Veda, and that by recognising them we are relieved from nearly all, if not all, the more violent prosodial licences which Professor Kuhn felt himself obliged to admit in his theory of Vedic metres.\n\u00a74. \u0306 \u0306 \u0304 \u0304.\nThe verses which fall under \u00a7 4 are so numerous that after those of the first Mandala, mentioned above, they need not be given here in full. They are simply cases where the eighth syllable is not lengthened, and they cannot be supposed to run counter to any rule of the Pr\u00e2tis\u00e2khya, for the simple reason that the Pr\u00e2tis\u00e2khya never gave such a rule as that the eighth syllable must be lengthened, if the ninth is short. Examples will be found in the final p\u00e2da of Trishtubhs: II, 30, 6; III, 36, 4; 53, 15; 54, 12; IV, 1, 16; 2, 7; 9; 11; 4, 12; 6, 1; 2; 4; 7, 7; 11, 5; 17, 3; 23, 6; 24, 2; 27, 1; 28, 5; 55, 5; 57, 2; V, 1, 2; VI, 17, 10; 21, 8; 23, 7; 25, 5; 29, 6; 33, 1; 62, 1; 63, 7; VII, 21, 5; 28, 3; 42, 4; 56, 15; 60, 10; 84, 2; 92, 4; VIII, 1, 33; 96, 9; IX, 92, 5; X, 61, 12; 13; 74, 3; 117, 7.\nIn support of \u00a7 5. \u0304 \u0304 \u0304 \u0304, the number of cases is smaller, but it should be remembered that it might be considerably increased if I had not restricted myself to the final p\u00e2da of each Trishtubh, while the first, second, and third p\u00e2das would have yielded a much larger harvest:\n\u00a75. \u0304 \u0304 \u0304 \u0304.\nI, 89, 9. m\u00e2 no madhy\u00e2 r\u00eerishat\u00e2\u0304y\u016br g\u0101nt\u014dh.\nI, 92, 6. suprat\u00eek\u00e2 saumanas\u00e2\u0304y\u00e2\u0304g\u00ee\u0304g\u0101h.\nI, 114, 5; 117, 2; 122, 1; 122, 8; 186, 3; II, 4, 2; III, 49, 2; IV, 3, 9; 26, 6; V, 41, 14; VI, 25, 2; 66, 11; VII, 8, 6; 28, 4; 68, 1; 71, 2; 78, 1; 93, 7b; IX, 90, 4; X, 11, 8.\nI do not wish to deny that in several of these lines it would be possible to remove the long syllable from the ninth place by conjectural emendation. Instead of \u00e2\u00b4yur in I, 89, 9, we might read \u00e2\u00b4yu; in I, 92, 6, we might drop the augment of ag\u00eegar; in II, 4, 2, we might admit synizesis in \u0103\u0361r\u0103*tir, and then read g\u00ee\u0304r\u0103-\u0101sv\u0101h, as in I, 141, 12. In VI, 25, 2, after eliding the a of ava, we might read d\u0306\u00e2\u0304s\u00ee\u0304h. But even if, in addition to all this, we were to admit the possible suppression of final m in asmabhyam, mahyam, and in the accusative singular, or the suppression of s in the nominative singular, both of which would be extreme measures, we should still have a number of cases which could not be righted without even more violent remedies. Why then should we not rather admit the occasional appearance of a metrical variation which certainly has a powerful precedent in the dispondeus of G\u00e2yatr\u00ees? I am not now acquainted with the last results of metrical criticism in Virgil, but, unless some new theories now prevail, I well recollect that spondaic hexameters, though small in number, much smaller than in the Veda, were recognised by the best scholars, and no emendations attempted to remove them. If then in Virgil we read,\nwhy not follow the authority of the best MSS. and the tradition of the Pr\u00e2tis\u00e2khyas and admit a dispondeus at the end of a Trishtubh rather than suspend, in order to meet this single difficulty, some of the most fundamental rules of prosody?\nI now proceed to give a more numerous list of Traishtubha p\u00e2das ending in a choriambus, \u0304 \u0306 \u0306 \u0304, again confining myself, with few exceptions, to final p\u00e2das:\n\u00a7 8. \u0304 \u0306 \u0306 \u0304\nI, 62, 3. sam usriy\u00e2bhir v\u00e2vas\u0101nt\u0103 n\u0103r\u0101h.\nI, 103, 4. yad dha s\u00fbnuh sravase n\u00e2\u0304m\u0103 d\u0103dh\u0113.\nI, 121, 9; 122, 10b; 173, 8; 186, 2; II, 4, 3; 19, 1; 33, 14; IV, 1, 19c a; 25, 4; 39, 2; V, 30, 12; 41, 4; 41, 15;\n[paragraph continues] VI, 4, 7; 10, 5; 11, 4; 13, 1b; 13, 1d; 20, 1b; 20, 1d; 29, 4; 33, 3; 33, 5; 44, 11; 49, 12; 68, 5; 68, 7; VII, 19, 10; 62, 4; IX, 97, 26; X, 55; 8; 99, 9; 108, 6; 169, 1.\nIt is perfectly true that this sudden change in the rhythm of Trishtubh verses, making their ending iambic instead of trochaic, grates on our ears. But, I believe, that if we admit a short stop after the seventh syllable, the intended rhythm of these verses will become intelligible. We remarked a similar break in the verses of hymn X, 77, where the sudden transition to an iambic metre was used with great effect, and the choriambic ending, though less effective, is by no means offensive. It should be remarked also, that in many, though not in all cases, a c\u00e6sura takes place after the seventh syllable, and this is, no doubt, a great help towards a better delivery of these choriambic Trishtubhs.\nWhile, however, I contend for the recognition of these three varieties of the normal Trishtubh metre, I am quite willing to admit that other variations besides these, which occur from time to time in the Veda, form a legitimate subject of critical discussion.\n\u00a7 2. \u0306 \u0306 \u0306 \u0304.\nTrishtubh verses, the final p\u00e2da of which ends in \u0306 \u0306 \u0306 \u0304, I should generally prefer to treat as ending in a G\u00e2gata p\u00e2da, in which this ending is more legitimate. Thus I should propose to scan:\nI, 122, 11. pr\u0103s\u0101st\u0103y\u0113 m\u0103h\u012dn\u0306\u00e2\u0304 \u030d r\u0103th\u0103v\u0103t\u0113.\nIII, 20, 5. v\u0103s\u00fb\u0304n r\u016bdr\u00e2\u0304n\u0310 \u00e2\u0304d\u012bty\u0306\u00e2\u0304n\u0310 \u030d \u012dh\u0103 h\u016dv\u0113.\nV, 2, 1. p\u016dr\u0101h p\u0101sy\u0101nt\u012d n\u012dh\u012dt\u0101m \u030d (t\u0103m) \u0103r\u0103ta\u016b.\nVI, 13, 5. v\u0103y\u014d vr\u012dk\u00e2\u0304y\u0306\u00e2\u0306r\u0103y\u0113 \u030d g\u0103s\u016dr\u0103y\u0113.\n\u00a7 1. \u0306 \u0304 \u0306 \u0304.\nI should propose the same medela for some final p\u00e2das of Trishtubhs apparently ending in \u0306 \u0304 \u0306 \u0304. We might indeed, as has been suggested, treat these verses as single instances of that peculiar metre which we saw carried out in the whole of hymn X, 77, but at the end of a verse the admission\nof an occasional G\u00e2gata p\u00e2da is more in accordance with the habit of the Vedic poets. Thus I should scan:\nV, 33, 4. vr\u012dsh\u00e2\u0304 s\u0103m\u0101ts\u016d d\u0304\u00e2\u0306s\u0101s\u030dy\u0103 n\u00e2\u0304m\u0103 k\u012bt a.\nV, 41, 5b. r\u00e2\u0304y\u0103 \u0115s\u0304h\u0113\u093d\u0306v\u0103s\u0113 \u030d d\u0103dh\u00ee\u0304t\u0103 dh\u00ee\u0304h.\nAfter what I have said before on the real character of the teaching of the Pr\u00e2tis\u00e2khya, I need not show again that the fact of Uvata's counting to of dadh\u00eeta as the tenth syllable is of no importance in determining the real nature of these hymns, though it is of importance, as Professor Kuhn remarks (Beitr\u00e4ge, vol. iii, p. 451), in showing that Uvata considered himself at perfect liberty in counting or not counting, for his own purposes, the elided syllable of avase.\nVII, 4, 6. m\u0306\u00e2\u0304ps\u0103v\u0101h p\u0103r\u012d sh\u0103d\u00e2\u0304m\u030d\u0103 m\u00e2\u0304d\u016dv\u0101h.\n\u00a76. \u0306 \u0304 \u0304 \u0304.\nFinal p\u00e2das of Trishtubhs ending in \u0306 \u0304 \u0304 \u0304 are very scarce. In VI, 1, 4,\nit would be very easy to read bhadr\u00e2y\u00e2m te samdrishtau r\u0103n\u0103y\u0101nt\u0101; and in X, 74, 2,\nwe may either recognise a G\u00e2gata p\u00e2da, or read\nwhich would agree with the metre of hymn X, 77.\n\u00a7 7. \u0304 \u0304 \u0306 \u0304\nP\u00e2das ending in \u0304 \u0304 \u0306 \u0304 do not occur as final in any Traishtubha hymn, but as many G\u00e2gata p\u00e2das occur in the body of Traishtubha hymns, we have to scan them as dodecasyllabic:\nI, 63, 4a. tv\u0306\u0101m h\u0101 ty\u0103d \u012bndr\u0306\u0103 k\u014dd\u0306\u00ee\u0304h s\u0103kh\u00e2\u0304.\nIV, 26, 6b. p\u0103r\u00e2\u0304v\u0103t\u0101h s\u0103k\u016dn\u014d m\u0101ndr\u0306\u0101m m\u0103d\u0101m.\nThe adjective p\u00e2vaka which frequently occurs at the end of final and internal p\u00e2das of Trishtubh hymns has always\nto be scanned p\u0306\u00e2\u0304v\u0103k\u0101. Cf. IV, 51, 2; VI, 5, 2; 10, 4; 51, 3; VII, 3, 1; 9; 9, 1b; 56, 12; X, 46, 7b.\nI must reserve what I have to say about other metres of the Veda for another opportunity, but I cannot leave Omission of final m and s.this subject without referring once more to a metrical licence which has been strongly advocated by Professor Kuhn and others, and by the admission of which there is no doubt that many difficulties might be removed, I mean the occasional omission of a final m and s, and the subsequent contraction of the final and initial vowels. The arguments that have been brought forward in support of this are very powerful. There is the general argument that final s and m are liable to be dropt in other Aryan languages, and particularly for metrical purposes. There is the stronger argument that in some cases final s and m in Sanskrit may or may not be omitted, even apart from any metrical stress. In Sanskrit we find that the demonstrative pronoun sas appears most frequently as sa (sa dad\u00e2ti), and if followed by liquid vowels, it may coalesce with them even in later Sanskrit. Thus we see saisha for sa esha, sendrah for sa indrah sanctioned for metrical purposes even by P\u00e2nini, VI, 1, 134. We might refer also to feminines which have s in the nominative singular after bases in \u00fb, but drop it after bases in \u00ee. We find in the Samhit\u00e2 text, V, 7, 8, sv\u00e1dhit\u00eeva, instead of sv\u00e1dhitih-iva in the Pada text, sanctioned by the Pr\u00e2tis\u00e2khya 259; likewise IX, 61, 10, Samhit\u00e2, bh\u00fb\u00b4my \u00e2\u00b4 dade, instead of Pada, bh\u00fb\u00b4mih \u00e2\u00b4 dade. But before we draw any general conclusions from such instances, we should consider whether they do not admit of a grammatical instead of a metrical explanation. The nominative singular of the demonstrative pronoun was sa before it was sas; by the side of bh\u00fb\u00b4mih we have a secondary form bh\u00fb\u00b4m\u00ee; and we may conclude from sv\u00e1dhit\u00ee-v\u00e2n, I, 88, 2, that the Vedic poets knew of a form sv\u00e1dhit\u00ee, by the side of sv\u00e1dhitih.\nAs to the suppression of final m, however, we see it admitted by the best authorities, or we see at least alternate forms with or without m, in t\u00fabhya, which occurs\nfrequently instead of t\u00fabhyam a, and twice, at least, without apparently any metrical reason b. We find asm\u00e2\u00b4ka instead of asm\u00e2\u00b4kam (I, 173, 10), yushm\u00e2\u00b4ka instead of yushm\u00e2\u00b4kam (VII, 59, 9-10), y\u00e1gadhva instead of y\u00e1gadhvam (VIII, 2, 37) sanctioned both by the Samhit\u00e2 and Pada texts c.\nIf then we have such precedents, it may well be asked why we should hesitate to adopt the same expedient, the omission of final m and s, whenever the Vedic metres seem to require it. Professor Bollensen's remark, that Vedic verses cannot be treated to all the licences of Latin scanning d, is hardly a sufficient answer; and he himself, though under a slightly different form, would admit as much, if not more, than has been admitted on this point by Professors Kuhn and Roth. On a priori grounds I should by no means feel opposed to the admission of a possible elision of final s or m, or even n; and my only doubt is whether it is really necessary for the proper scanning of Vedic metres.\nMy own opinion has always been, that if we admit on a larger scale what in single words can hardly be doubted Synizesis.by anybody, viz. the pronunciation of two syllables as one, we need not fall back on the elision of final consonants in order to arrive at a proper scanning of Vedic metres. On this point I shall have to say a few words in conclusion, because I shall frequently avail myself of this licence, for the purpose of righting apparently corrupt verses in the hymns of the Rig-veda; and I feel bound to explain, once for all, why I avail myself of it in preference to other emendations which have been proposed by scholars such as Professors Benfey, Kuhn, Roth, Bollensen, and others.\nThe merit of having first pointed out-some cases where\ntwo syllables must be treated as one, belongs, I believe, to Professor Bollensen in his article, 'Zur Herstellung des Veda,' published in Benfey's Orient and Occident, vol. ii, p. 461. He proposed, for instance, to write hy\u00e2n\u00e2\u00b4 instead of hiy\u00e2n\u00e2\u00b4, IX, 13, 6; dhy\u00e2n\u00f3 instead of dhiy\u00e2n\u00f3, VIII, 49, 5; s\u00e1hyase instead of s\u00e1h\u00eeyase, I. 71, 4; y\u00e2n\u00f3 instead of iy\u00e2n\u00f3, VIII, 50, 5, &c. The actual alteration of these words seems to me unnecessary; nor should we think of resorting to such violent measures in Greek where, as far as metrical purposes are concerned, two vowels have not unfrequently to be treated as one.\nThat iva counts in many passages as one syllable is admitted by everybody. The only point on which I differ is that I do not see why iva, when monosyllabic, should be changed to va, instead of being pronounced quickly, or, to adopt the terminology of Greek grammarians, by synizesis a. Synizesis is well explained by Greek scholars as a quick pronunciation of two vowels so that neither should be lost, and as different thereby from synal\u0153phe, which means the contraction of two vowels into one b. This synizesis is by no means restricted to iva and a few other words, but seems to me a very frequent expedient resorted to by the ancient Rishis.\nOriginally it may have arisen from the fact that language allows in many cases alternate forms of one or two syllables. As in Greek we have double forms like \u1f00\u03bb\u03b5\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 and \u1f00\u03bb\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2, \u03b3\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 and \u03b3\u03bb\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, \u03c0\u03b5\u03c4\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 and \u03c0\u03c4\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2, \u03c0\u03c5\u03ba\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 and \u03c0\u03c5\u03ba\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 c, and as in Latin we have the shortening\nor suppression of vowels carried out on the largest scale a. we find in Sanskrit, too, such double forms as prithv\u00ee or prithiv\u00ee, adhi and dhi, api and pi, ava and va. The occurrence of such forms which have nothing to do with metrical considerations, but are perfectly legitimate from a grammatical point of view, would encourage a tendency to treat two syllables\u2014and particularly two short syllables\u2014as one, whenever an occasion arose. There are, besides, in the Vedic Sanskrit a number of forms where, as we saw, a long syllable has to be pronounced as two. In some of these cases this pronunciation is legitimate, i. e. it preserves an original dissyllabic form which in course of time had become monosyllabic. In other cases the same process takes place through a mistaken sense of analogy, where we cannot prove that an original dissyllabic form had any existence even in a prehistoric state of language. The occurrence of a number of such alternate forms would naturally leave a general impression in the minds of poets that two short syllables and one long syllable were under certain circumstances interchangeable. So considerable a number of words in which a long syllable has to be pronounced as two syllables has been collected by Professors Kuhn, Bollensen, and others, that no doubt can remain on this subject. Vedic poets, being allowed to change a semivowel into a vowel, were free to say n\u00e2\u0304s\u0101ty\u00e2\u0304 and n\u00e2\u0304s\u0101\u0306ty\u0306\u00e2\u0304, VIII, 5, 32; pr\u012dth\u012bvy\u00e2\u0304s and pr\u012dth\u012b\u0306vy\u0306\u00e2\u0304h; p\u012btr\u014dh and p\u012b\u0306tr\u0306\u014dh, I, 31, 4. They could separate compound words, and pronounce ghri\u0305t\u00e2\u0304nn\u0101h or ghr\u012dt\u0103-\u0101nn\u0101h, VII, 3, 1. They could insert a kind of shewa or svarabhakti in words like s\u00e2\u0304mn\u0113, or s\u00e2\u0304mn\u0306\u0113, VIII, 6, 47; dh\u00e2\u0304mn\u0113 or dh\u00e2\u0304mn\u0306\u0113, VIII, 92, 25; \u0103r\u00e2\u0304vn\u0101h and \u0103r\u00e2\u0304vn\u0306\u0101h, IX, 63, 5. They might vary between p\u00e2\u0304nt\u012d and p\u0306\u00e2\u0304nt\u012d, I, 41, 2; y\u00e2\u0304th\u0103n\u0103 and y\u0306\u00e2\u0304th\u0103n\u0103, I, 39, 3; n\u012ddh\u00e2\u0304t\u014dh and n\u012ddh\u00e2\u0304t\u0306\u014dh, I, 41, 9; tr\u0113dh\u00e2\u0304 and tr\u0113dh\u0306\u00e2\u0304, I, 34, 8; d\u0113v\u00e2\u0304h and d\u0113v\u0306\u00e2\u0304h (besides dev\u00e2sah), I, 23, 24; r\u014dd\u0103s\u00ee\u0304 and r\u0306\u014dd\u0103s\u00ee\u0304, I, 33, 9; 59, 4; 64, 9; and r\u0304\u014fd\u0101sy\u014dh, I, 33, 5; 59, 2; 117, 10;\n[paragraph continues] VI, 24, 3; VII, 6, 2; X, 74, 1 a. Need we wonder then if we find that, on the other hand, they allowed themselves to pronounce pr\u012dth\u012dv\u00ee\u0304 as pr\u012d\u0361th\u012d*v\u00ee\u0304, I, 191, 6; VII, 34, 7; 99, 3; dhri\u0305shn\u0103v\u0103 as dhri\u0305shn\u0306\u0361av\u0103*, V, 52, 14; s\u016dv\u00e2\u0304n\u0101 as s\u016d\u0361v\u00e2\u0304*n\u0101? There is no reason why we should change the spelling of s\u016dv\u00e2\u0304n\u0103 into sv\u00e2\u0304n\u0101. The metre itself tells us at once where suv\u00e2na is to be pronounced as two or as three syllables. Nor is it possible to believe that those who first handed down and afterwards wrote down the text of the Vedic hymns, should have been ignorant of that freedom of pronunciation. Why, there is not one single passage in the whole of the ninth Mandala, where, as far as I know, suv\u00e2na should not be pronounced as dissyllabic, i. e. as s\u016d\u0361v\u00e2\u0304*n\u0101; and to suppose that the scholars of India did not know how that superfluous syllable should be removed, is really taking too low an estimate of men like Vy\u00e2li or Saunaka.\nBut if we once admit that in these cases two syllables separated by a single consonant were pronounced as one and were metrically counted as one, we can hardly resist the evidence in favour of a similar pronunciation in a large number of other words, and we shall find that by the admission of this rapid pronunciation, or of what in Plautus we should call irrational vowels, many verses assume at once their regular form without the necessity of admitting the suppression of final s, m, n, or the introduction of other prosodial licences. To my mind the most convincing passages are those where, as in the Atyashti and similar hymns, a poet repeats the same phrase twice, altering only one or two words, but without endeavouring to avoid an excess of syllables which, to our mind, unless we resort to synizesis, would completely destroy the uniformity of the metre. Thus we read:\nI, 133, 6. \u0103p\u00fb\u0304r\u016dsh\u0101ghn\u014d\u0361\u093dpr\u0103*t\u00ee\u0304t\u0103 s\u00fb\u0304r\u0103 s\u0101tv\u0103bh\u012bh,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0tr\u012ds\u0101pta\u012bh s\u00fb\u0304r\u0103 s\u0101tv\u0103bh\u012bh.\nHere no\u093dpra must be pronounced with one ictus only, in order to get a complete agreement between the two iambic diameters.\nI, 134, 5.\nAs ishanta never occurs again, I suspect that the original reading was ishananta in both lines, and that in the second line ishananta, pronounced rapidly, was mistaken for ishanta. Is not bhurv\u00e1ni a locative, corresponding to the datives in vane which are so frequently used in the sense of infinitives? See note to I, 6, 8, page 47 seq. In I, 138, 3, we must read:\nIn I, 129, I I,\nwe might try to remove the difficulty by omitting vaso at the end of the refrain, but this would be against the general character of these hymns. We want the last word vaso, if possible, at the end of both lines. But, if so, we must admit two cases of synizesis, or, if this seems too clumsy, we must omit tv\u00e2.\nI shall now proceed to give a number of other examples in which the same consonantal synizesis seems necessary in order to make the rhythm of the verses perceptible to our ears as it was to the ears of the ancient Rishis.\nThe preposition anu takes synizesis in\nI, 127, 1. ghr\u012dt\u0101sy\u0103 v\u012bbhr\u00e2\u0304sht\u012dm \u0103\u0361n\u016d* v\u0101sht\u012d s\u014dk\u012dsh\u00e2\u0304. Cf. X, 14, 1.\nThe preposition abhi:\nI, 91, 23. r\u00e2\u0304y\u014d bh\u00e2\u0304g\u0101m s\u0103h\u0103s\u00e2\u0304v\u0101nn \u0103\u0361bh\u012d* y\u016bdhy\u0101.\nHere Professor Kuhn changes sahas\u00e2van into sahasvah, which, no doubt, is a very simple and very plausible emendation. But in altering the text of the Veda many things have to be considered, and in our case it might be objected that sahasvah never occurs again as an epithet of Soma.\n[paragraph continues] As an invocation sahasvah refers to no deity but Agni, and even in its other cases it is applied to Agni and Indra only. However, I do not by any means maintain that sahasvah could not be applied to Soma, for nearly the same arguments could be used against sahas\u00e2van, if conjecturally put in the place of sahasvah; I only wish to point out how everything ought to be tried first, before we resort in the Veda to conjectural emendations. Therefore, if in our passage there should be any objection to admitting the synizesis in abhi, I should much rather propose synizesis of sahas\u00e2van, than change it into sahasvah. There is synizesis in maha, eg. I, 133, 6. \u0103v\u0101r m\u0103\u0361h\u0103* \u012bndr\u0103 d\u00e2\u0304dr\u012dh\u012d sr\u016ddh\u00ee\u0304 n\u0101h. Although this verse is quoted by the Pr\u00e2tis\u00e2khya, Sara 522, as one in which the lengthened syllable dh\u00ee of srudh\u00ee does not occupy the tenth place, and which therefore required special mention, the original poet evidently thought otherwise, and lengthened the syllable, being a syllable liable to be lengthened, because it really occupied the tenth place, and therefore received a peculiar stress.\nThe preposition pari:\nVI, 52, 14.\n[paragraph continues] Here Professor Kuhn (Beitr\u00e4ge, vol. iv, p. 197) begins the last pada with vokam, but this is impossible, unless we change the accent of vokam, though even then the separation of the verb from m\u00e2 and the accumulation of two verbs in the last line would be objectionable.\nH\u0103r\u012d is pronounced as h\u0103\u0361r\u012d*:\nVII, 32, 12. y\u0103 \u012bndr\u014d h\u0103\u0361r\u012d*v\u00e2\u0304n n\u0103 d\u0103bh\u0101nt\u012d t\u0101m r\u012dp\u0101h.\nII, 18, 5. \u00e2\u0304 k\u0101tv\u00e2\u0304r\u012bms\u0103t\u00e2\u0304 h\u0103\u0361r\u012d*bh\u012br y\u016dg\u00e2\u0304n\u0101h.\nHence I propose to scan the difficult verse I, 167, 1, as follows:\nThat the final o instead of as is treated as a short syllable we saw before, and in I, 133, 6, we observed that it was liable to synizesis. We see the same in\nI, 175, 6. m\u0103y\u0103 \u012dv\u00e2\u0304p\u014f\u0361 n\u0103* tri\u0305shy\u0103t\u0113 b\u0103bh\u00fb\u0304th\u0101.\nV, 61, 16. \u00e2\u0304 y\u0101g\u00f1\u012dy\u00e2\u0304s\u014f\u0361 v\u0103*vri\u0305tt\u0103n\u0101.\nThe pragrihya \u00ee of the dual is known in the Veda to be liable in certain cases to Sandhi. If we extend this licence beyond the limits recognised by the Pr\u00e2tis\u00e2khya, we might scan\nVI, 52, 14. \u016dbh\u0113 r\u014dd\u0101sy \u0103p\u00e2\u0304m n\u0103p\u00e2\u0304k k\u0103 m\u0101nm\u0101, or we might shorten the \u00ee before the a, and admitting synizesis, scan:\nIn III, 6, 10, we must either admit Sandhi between pr\u00e2\u00b4k\u00ee and adhvar\u00e9va, or contract the first two syllables of adhvar\u00e9va.\nThe o and e of vocatives before vowels, when changed into av or a(y), are liable to synizesis;\nIV, 48, 1. v\u00e2\u0304y\u0103\u0361v \u00e2\u0304* k\u0101ndr\u0113n\u0103 r\u0103th\u0113n\u0101 (Anushtubh, c.)\nIV, I, 2. s\u0103 bhr\u00e2\u0304t\u0103r\u0101m v\u0103\u0361r\u016d*n\u0103m \u0101gn\u0103\u0361 \u00e2\u0304* v\u0103vri\u0305tsv\u0306\u0101.\nThe termination avah also, before vowels, seems to count as one syllable in V, 52, 14, d\u012dv\u014d v\u00e2\u0304 dhri\u0305shn\u0103\u0361v\u0103* \u014dg\u0103s\u00e2\u0304, which would render Professor Bollensen's correction (Orient and Occident, vol. ii, p. 480), dhrishn\u00faogas\u00e2, unnecessary.\nLike ava and iva, we find aya and iya, too, in several words liable to be contracted in pronunciation; e. g. vayam, VI, 23, 5; ayam, I, 177, 4; iyam, VII, 66, 82; I, 186, 11 (unless we read vo\u093dsme); X, 129, 6. Professor Bollensen's proposal to change iyam to \u00eem, and ayam to \u00e2m (Orient and Occident, vol. ii, p. 461), would only cause obscurity, without any adequate gain, while other words would by a similar suppression of vowels or consonants become simply irrecognisable. In I, 169, 6, for instance, \u00e1dha has to be\npronounced with one ictus; in VI, 26, 7, s\u0103\u0361dh\u0103*v\u00ee\u0304r\u0103 is tri-syllabic. In VI, 10, 1, we must admit synizesis in adhvar\u00e9; in I, 161, 8, either in udak\u00e2m or in abrav\u00eetana; I, 110, 9, in ribhum\u00e2\u00b4n; VIII, 79, 4, in div\u00e1h; V, 4, 6, in nritama (unless we read so\u093dgne); I, 164, 17, in par\u00e1h; VI, 15, 14, in p\u00e2\u00b4vaka; I, 191, 6; VII, 34, 7; 99, 3, in prithiv\u00ee\u00b4; II, 20, 8, in p\u00farah; VI, 10, I, in prayat\u00ed; VI, 17, 7, in brih\u00e1t; IX, 19, 6, in bhiy\u00e1sam; I, 133, 6, in mah\u00e1h; II, 28, 6; IV, 1, 2; VI, 75, 18, in varuna; III, 30, 21, in vrishabha; VII, 41, 6, in v\u00e2g\u00ednah; II, 43, 2, in s\u00edsumat\u00eeh; VI, 51, 2, in sanut\u00e1r; VI, 18, 12, in sth\u00e1virasya, &c.\nThese remarks will, I hope, suffice in order to justify the principles by which I have been guided in my treatment of the text and in my translation of the Rig-veda. I know I shall seem to some to have been too timid in retaining whatever can possibly be retained in the traditional text of these ancient hymns, while others will look upon the emendations which I have suggested as unpardonable temerity. Let everything be weighed in the just scales of argument. Those who argue for victory, and not for truth, can have no hearing in our court. There is too much serious work to be done to allow time for wrangling or abuse. Any dictionary will supply strong words to those who condescend to such warfare, but strong arguments require honest labour, sound judgment, and, above all, a genuine love of truth.\nThe second volume, which I am now preparing for Press, will contain the remaining hymns addressed to the Maruts. The notes will necessarily have to be reduced to smaller dimensions, but they must always constitute the more important part in a translation or, more truly, in a deciphering of Vedic hymns.\nF. MAX M\u00dcLLER.\nParks End, Oxford:\n \u00a0\u00a0March, 1869.\ncxiv:a 'Nur eine Stelle habe ich mir angemerkt, wo das Metrum \u00e2am verlangt.' Kuhn, Beitr\u00e4ge, vol. iv, p. 180; Bollensen, Zeitschrift der D. M. G., vol. xxii, p. 587.\ncxvi:a Professor Kuhn has finally adopted the same scanning, Beitr\u00e4ge, vol. iv, p. 584.\ncxviii:a I, 54, 9; 135, 2; III, 42, 8; V, 11, 5; VII, 22, 7; VIII, 51, 9; 76, 8; 82, 5; IX, 62, 27; 86, 30; X, 167, 1.\ncxviii:b II, 11, 3; V, 30, 6.\ncxviii:c See Bollensen, Orient and Occident, vol. iii, p. 459; Kuhn, Beitr\u00e4ge, vol. iv, p. 199.\ncxviii:d Orient and Occident, vol. iv, p. 449.\ncxix:a Synizesis in Greek applies only to the quick pronunciation of two vowels, if in immediate contact; and not, if separated by consonants. Sampras\u00e2rana might seem a more appropriate term, but though the grammatical process designated in Sanskrit by Sampras\u00e2rana offers some analogies, it could only by a new definition be applied to the metrical process here intended.\ncxix:b A. B. p. 835, 30. \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u1f76 \u03b4\u1f72 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03ba\u03bf\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03bc\u03ad\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f21 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b5\u03ba\u03c6\u03ce\u03bd\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u1f23 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03af\u03b6\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9. \u1f4c\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03c6\u03c9\u03bd\u03b7\u03ad\u03bd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u1f10\u03c0\u03ac\u03bb\u03bb\u03b7\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f21 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u03ac \u03c4\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5 \u03b3\u03af\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f21 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03af\u03b6\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03bc\u03af\u03b1\u03bd \u03c3\u03c5\u03bb\u03bb\u03b1\u03b2\u03ae\u03bd. \u0394\u03b9\u03b1\u03c6\u03ad\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9\u03c6\u1fc6\u03c2\u00b7 \u1f21 \u03bc\u1f72\u03bd \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03b3\u03c1\u03b1\u03bc\u03bc\u03ac\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u1f76 \u03ba\u03bb\u03bf\u03c0\u03ae, \u1fc6 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c7\u03c1\u03cc\u03c9\u03bd\u00b7 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bc\u1f72\u03bd \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9\u03c6\u03ae, \u1f61\u03c2 \u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9, \u03c6\u03b1\u03af\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9, \u1fc6 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03bf\u1f54 Mehlhorn, Griechische Grammatik, \u00a7 10s. Thus in we have synizesis, in syn\u00e6resis.\ncxix:c Cf. Mehlhorn, Griechische Grammatik, \u00a7 57.\ncxx:a See the important chapters on 'K\u00fcrzung der Vokale' and 'Tilgung der Vokale' in Corssen's 'Aussprache des Lateinischen;' and more especially his remarks on the so-called irrational vowels in Plautus, ibid. vol. ii, p. 70.\ncxxi:a Professor Bollensen in some of these passages proposes to read rodas\u012bos. In I, 96, 4, no change is necessary if we read v\u012ds\u0306\u00e2\u0304m. Zeitschrift der D. M. G., vol. xxii, p. 587.\ncxxiii:a As to the scanning of the second line see p. cxiv.","title":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32): Preface to the First Edition: Part 11","type":"page"}