Vedas and Music (Set of 3 Books)

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Science of Vedic Metres and Musical Notes About the Book When the earth moves around the sun. Sun's position in relation to Earth changes with the change of every solar month (represented: by a Sankranti). The sun describes seven great circles of latitude on the earth during 12 months of a year. These seven great circles of latitude described by the sun are known as the seven major chhandas In this monograph, a humble effort has been made to reveal that not only the Vedas Ideal with the science of cosmology but their composition has also a scientific background. Through this monograph, readers will find that how do the syllable count of Vedic Metres and Musical notes used for chanting metres have a scientific basis.

About the Author Prof Ravi Prakash Arya is a world-renowned Vedic Scholar. Philologist, historian, and philosopher He to a prolific speaker and writer. He is a widely traveled scholar who has delivered more than 350 popular and academic talks on various topics of the Vedas, Indian History. Linguistics, Philosophy Culture and Scientific Indian heritage in various countries of the world. He is doing pioneering work for preserving and propagating the universal and scientific Vedic heritage of India under the auspices of the Indiant Foundation for Vedic Science. He has to his credit 75 research papers and 70 books running into 84 volumes on the various aspects of Vedas, Vedic Sciences. Vedic Exegesis, Vedic Philology. Vedic Philosophy. Religion. Indian History and Culture. He is the Chief Editor of a quarterly Research Journal 'Vedic Science dealing with the scientific interpretation of Vedas & Allied literature and ancient Indian traditions. This Journal is acclaimed as an authoritative document on Vedic Sciences, He is also the editor of the annual World Vedic Calendar. He has convented several national and international conferences. seminars and workshops.

**Contents and Sample Pages**

Essentials of Sama Veda and its Music (Sanskrit Text with Transliteration and English Translation)
About The Author

Dr. R.L. Kashyap is Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indian in USA. He had his Master’s degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and obtained Ph. D from Harvard University. He is the recipient of many International awards. Recently he has received ‘Vedanga Vidvan’ award instituted by Maharshi Sandipani Vedavidya Pratishthan (Ujjain), and autonomous body of HRD, Govt. of India and ‘Jnana Keerti’ award instituted by Harsha Kriya Foundations, Bangalore.

He has authored more than 350 research articles of which 220 are published in scholarly journals and the rest were presented at conferences. He has guided above 50 doctoral students.

He has written extensively on Veda. Some of his widely read books on Veda are: ‘Krishan Yajur Veda Taittiriya Samhita, ‘Rig Veda-First Mandala’, ‘Rig Veda-Third Mandala’, ‘Rig Veda-Fourth Mandala’, ‘Rig Veda-Fifth Mandala’, ‘Rig Veda-Sixth Mandala’, Rig Veda-Tenth Mandala’, ‘Sama Veda-Purvarchika’, ‘Why Read Rig Veda’, ‘Rudra Mantras’, ‘Essentials of Atharva Veda’, ‘Essentials of Yajur Veda’, ‘Work Enjoyment & Progress’ etc. He is the Honorary Director & Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture, Bangalore.

 

Introduction

Sama Veda Samhita is the third in the traditional sequence of four Vedas. All its mantras are risks in some specified metres with names such as Gayatri, Anushtubh etc.

Sama Veda is the earliest known systematic procedure for giving a melody to a verse meant for chanting. Most persons who have heard with devotion the singing of Sama Veda verses will attest to the sense of exhilaration or ecstasy experienced by them. It is no wonder that the famous poem Bhagavad Gita in the epic Mahabharata declares that the Sama Veda is the best among the four Vedas. Each Sama Veda mantra contains in it not only the deep meaning of music. Sama Veda is the Foundation for all systems of music in the subcontinent of India. Note however that mantras in Sama Veda are different from the mantras in the other 3 Vedas in one way. In the other 3 Vedas, a mantra is chanted as the text indicates. However this is not the case in Sama Veda.

Sama Veda Samhita, in reality, has two parts. The first part consists of the text of the rik mantras which are to be sung. It is properly called Sama mantra Samhita. The second part of Sama Veda gives the text or text for singing. Thus every mantra in the first part, is expanded to yield one or more Samagana mantras. Note that there are also several Samagana mantras which do not have a source rik mantra.

Now, only the book of the mantras of the first part is accessible, with relative ease namely the edition of the Pandit Sripad Damodar Satavalekar having 1875 mantras. The book having the text of the Samagana mantras, is available only in specialized libraries. Hence even the so-called experts call the book with only the first part as the entire Sama Veda.

 

Note to the Readers

We are happy to present to our readers the second edition of, ‘Essentials of Sama Veda & Its Music’. This book on Sama Veda complements our three other books namely, Essentials of Rig Veda, Essentials of Atharva Veda and the Essentials of the Shukla and Krishna Yajur Veda.

This book has 32 chapters divided into 3 parts. The Part 1 having 10 chapters’ deals with the general information given here is not original, the presentation of this body of knowledge in a compact from is a highlight of this book.

The chapter 19 is particularly interesting because of the use of relatively advanced mathematics in devising a scheme for detecting the errors in the pronunciation of accents during chanting.

Part III having 13 chapter deals with the psychological powers associated with the various deities occurring in Sama mantras and the text and meaning of the associated mantras. Note that symbolism is an integral part of the meaning behind these mantras. The psychological powers associated with the deities such as the will-power, clarity of mental operations, inspiration can be developed with the help of these mantras. Understanding the meanings of words in a mantra and their deeper meanings is of great help in this process.

 

Contents

 

(i)	Notes to the Readers	V
(ii)	Our New Book: 'Sama Veda: Purva Archika'	v
(iii)	Abbreviations	v
(iv)	Transliteration Scheme	vi
Part I	Structure of Sama Veda and its Connections
1	Introduction	1
2	Mantra Types and Overlap in the 4 Collections	2
3	Sama and Rig Veda	4
4	Structure of Sama Veda Book	5
(i)	Purva Archika
(ii)	Uttara Archika
5	Recensions and Kandarshis	7
6	Rishis	8
7	Associated Brahmana Books	9
8	Upanishads	9
9	Some Well-known Samaganas	10
10	Commentators, Translators & Editors	11
Part II	Sama Chants and Music
11	Preliminary Preparations before Chanting	12
12	Elements of Chanting	13
13	Details of Svara	15
14	Text of the Song and Text of Yoni Mantra	19
15	The most widely known Sama Chant	21
16	Sama Veda, The Seven Notes	23
17	Musical Instruments	25
18	Bhakti Divisions of a Saman Mantra in a rite	25
19	Mathematics of Error Detection in Chants and Error	26
	Correcting Codes in Computers
Part III	Gods and Mantras with Meanings and Text
20	Gods	28
21	Agni	30
22	Savitr and Surya	33
23	Indra, the Lord of Divine Mind	35
24	Sarasvati, Goddess of Inspiration : SV (189)	38
25	Vishnu Mantras : SV (1669-1674)	39
26	Mantras for Purification of the Mind and Body	43
27	Mitra and Varuna	45
28	The Lords of Bliss: Ashvins	48
29	Soma, the Lord of Delight	50
30	Brahmanaspati	51
31	Purusha Sukta (5 Mantras)	53
32	Shanti Mantras : SV (1874,1875)	56
	Appendix 1 : Error Detection	57
	Appendix 2 : More on Accent Marks	60

 

Sample Pages




Secrets of Vedic Music About The Book

In this book of Vedic music, the author has given many QR codes for readers to experience real and practical Vedic music while reading the book. He has explained 3 universal concepts of musical sounds i, e. udatta, anudatta and svarita that appear for the very first time in Vedic music, drawing inspiration from the definition of the Veda i. e. 'Vidyate iti vedah'. He has demystified the secrets of Vedic musical tones by extending the usage of Vedic term 'Samvad' (consonance) while citing scientific explanation of 7 swar (note) and 12 sur (tone) in a saptak.

It is said that Indian music has descended from the Sam ved, but, except ban, veena, sapta dhatu, karkari, dundubhi, gargar, adambar, godha, aghati, vakur/bakur, nali, tunav, vitanda and shankh, we don't come across any music related words of current times in the Vedas. In contrast, we apply essence of all the following terms of Vedic music, i. e. prastava, hinkara, udgitha, upa drava, nidhana, vikara, vishleshana, vikarshana, abhyasa, virama, stobha, udghat, roha, gati, prenkha, parva, namana, karshana, vinata, ati krama, atyut krama, pratyut krama and samprasarana, but never utter any of them in context of contemporary Indian music.

About the Author

The author Ramkrishna Das 'Nadrang' (MSc- Physics- BHU-1989, BEd- Mumbai Univ-1995) has taught Physics at Rizvi College and National College, Mumbai (1991-95). He was an all India topper in Visharad Examination (vocal music-2012) of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya (ABGMM). He is an authority of Indian Ragdari Music. He has taught in the Music Department of Mumbai University (2007-09). He was deputed by ICCR, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India to teach music at Johannesburg, South Africa (2014-16). Presently, he serves as a Music Coordinator at Bhavans Cultural Centre Andheri (Mumbai). He is a B High grade khayal and thumri singer to All India Radio, Mumbai. He has Dhrupad- Dhamar-Khayal-Thumri-Tappa-Bhajan recitals of about 150 hours in 200 rags on YouTube. In the years 2000 and 2009, he received Junior and Senior research fellowship from Ministry of Culture, Government of India. He has published more than 250 write ups on music in 28 newspapers and periodicals (1993-2023). He has published 5 books on Indian music. He has performed classical and semi-classical music in many concerts of India, England, Germany, South Africa, Fiji, Lesotho and others.

Foreword

There had been music in all ages with the human being. People of rural, tribal and urban background had been singing, dancing and playing musical instruments since the times of antiquity till today. Music as a form of art reflects ras-bhav (sentiments, essence of emotion) that is dear to both an artiste and the connoisseurs.

Music always found some application for meeting select purposes of life. Music had been a medium of expression of ones heart and mind, joys and sorrows as well as various feelings and emotions. In the same way, music had been medium for relaxation to a listener too. Music is employed for deriving aural pleasure and satisfaction. At times, people relished the sonorous beauty of music through the lyrics, tune and rhythm.

Music itself is a temporary real entity unless it is being stored in the form of audio visual recording, but it becomes an artificial entity when it imitates emotions and events of real life. Music gets a long life in the mind and memory of a performer or a listener as a tonal impression if it is special, interesting or otherwise.

Folk music is the music of the commoners that does not require any systematic training or learning as such, but the urban music. Folk music and cultured music had parallel existence almost in every part of the globe. The earliest sophisticated music of educated people of India was Vedic music.

Introduction

I think it is fair to know the right meaning of the frequently used words in the beginning for the better understanding of a subject. As I am planning to introduce the subject of Vedic music in a pedagogical manner, thus, I will try to demystify the concepts of the terms ved, shastra and sangeet in the beginning. I think, people must stick to lexical meaning first, and then go for highlighting their own agenda if it is needed.

Indian classical music is loosely translated as shastriya sangeet, therefore it becomes essential to know what is a shastra. It is not uncommon to get befooled by some pretending scholars who interpret shastra and dharma in their own way; the act is highly condemnable. But, in the era of internet and AI-ChatGPT, it is not easily possible to mislead people for one can quickly verify the veracity of any claim by searching the right meaning on Google. Google and Bing are not all experts, but they are better than nothing.

In context of communication and meaning, I think one must know the fact that all spoken, written and printed meanings of words are called verbal expressions like song, prose and poetry, whereas body language (gesture), beckon, indicator, painting, sculpture, photo, etc. are non-verbal expressions besides film, documentary, video, the mixed media of expression.