Realisation of anusvAra in vedic recitation

[Harry Spier]

Dear list members:

I have two recitation tapes of the Rudram.  They follow the same text to the
letter. (The chanting book that accompanies one of these tapes states that
the text is from the Krishna Yajur Veda).  The two tapes follow the musical
realization of the taittirIya school i.e. sannatara low tone, unmarked
syllables mid-tone, and svarita high tone. (see Madhav Deshpande's posting
of Jan. 19, 2000 Re: Vedic Accent in Taittiriya samhita).  However the two
tapes realize anusvAra before s,z,S,r and h in two completely different
manners.


In the following any accent signs will follow the syllable they apply to.
Svarita is indicated by ' sannatara by _

Tape A:
AnusvAra before sibilants,r, and h is realized as the sound [gum] ( the one
case in the Rudram of anusvAra resulting from sandhi of final n after A and
before a vowel is also realized as [gum]) There are the following
exceptions:

Namakam section 1.
... higU'msIH_ purU'Sam_ jaga't |  i.e. [gUm]
ahIgi'mzca_ sarvA"njambhayant_ ... i.e. [gim]

Tape B:
AnusvAra before sibilants,r, and h is realized as the sound [ga] ( the one
case in the Rudram of anusvAra resulting from sandhi of final n after A and
before a vowel is also realized as [ga]) There are the following exceptions
:

Namakam section 1.
... higu'sIH_ purU'Sam_ jaga't |  i.e. [gu]
ahIgu'zca_ sarvA"njambhayant_ ... i.e. [gu]

Namakam section 3.
nama'H sRkA_vibhyo_ jighAgu' sadbhyo ... i.e. [gu]

Namakam section 10.
yAste' sa_hasrago' he_tayo_ ... i.e. [go]

Namakam section 11.
teSAgo' shasryo ja_neva_ ... i.e. [go]
...divago' ru_drA ...        i.e. [go]
...bhUyAgo sazca_ ...        i.e. [go]
...vi_zva bhe"Sa jo_yaM zi_vAbhi' marzanaH | i.e. [M]

Camakam section 1
... parugu' Si ca me_ ... i.e. [gu]

Camakam section 11
... sa_ptavigo' zatizca me_ ... i.e. [go]
... STAvigo' zatizca me_ ...    i.e. [go]
... dvAtrigo zacha me_ ...      i.e. [go]
... zaTtrigo' zacha me ...      i.e. [go]

Wayne Howard in "Vedic Recitation in Varanasi" mentions something similar
but it is for the mAdhyandina yajurveda recitation and not for the
taittirIya samhita school. See page 123: "Another distinguishing feature of
this recitation [mAdhyandina] is the pronunciation of anusvAra before z,S,s,
and r as ghuM."

Could any list members clarify for me the realization of anusvAra in vedic
recitation.  Particularily as it applies to the krishna yajur veda and can
they give me the explanation for the differences in the realization of tape
A and tape B I've summarized above.

Many thanks in advance,

Harry Spier
371 Brickman Rd.
Hurleyville, New York
USA 12747



______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com