05-03-2007, 04:18 PM
HH,
One of the stronger objections against a laghu-guru rule for vedic metres is that even within the same sUkta, different R^ichAs DO NOT follow the same arrangement of laghu-guru syllables.
One would assume that same arrangement of laghu-guru syllables should be seen within the same sUkta for all the R^ichA-s. But it is not the case.
Even more importantly, the total mAtrA-s obtained from adding matras of all laghu and guru syllables varies within the same sUkta. This is the strongest indication that vedic metres were not mAtrA-chhanda-s but were syllabic or akShara-chhanda-s.
P.S. I was recently trying to set "durgA-sUktam" from "mahA-nArAyaNa-upanishad" to contemporary music and ran into metrical issues. The stanzas follow the syllable count rules diligently, but don't follow the mAtrA count (or time-measure) rule.
One of the stronger objections against a laghu-guru rule for vedic metres is that even within the same sUkta, different R^ichAs DO NOT follow the same arrangement of laghu-guru syllables.
One would assume that same arrangement of laghu-guru syllables should be seen within the same sUkta for all the R^ichA-s. But it is not the case.
Even more importantly, the total mAtrA-s obtained from adding matras of all laghu and guru syllables varies within the same sUkta. This is the strongest indication that vedic metres were not mAtrA-chhanda-s but were syllabic or akShara-chhanda-s.
P.S. I was recently trying to set "durgA-sUktam" from "mahA-nArAyaNa-upanishad" to contemporary music and ran into metrical issues. The stanzas follow the syllable count rules diligently, but don't follow the mAtrA count (or time-measure) rule.