Mimamsasutra 42.2.15-3

42.2.15-3

’agnirmūrdhā’- ityādiyājyānuvākyādayo mantrāḥ sāmaprasaṅgādvicāryante| te ca kasyāṃcicchākhāyāṃ traisvaryeṇādhīyante | kaiściccātuḥ svaryeṇa| udāttānudāttasvaritebhyo vyatiriktaścaturthasvara ekaśrutiḥ| tāṃ cādhyāpakāḥ ’pracayaḥ’ ityācakṣate| tatra- prayogavacanasya sarvāṅgopasaṃhāritvātsamuccayastraisvaryādīnām| ityekaḥ pakṣaḥ|
adhyayananirvṛttilakṣaṇasya prayojanasyaikatvādvikalpaḥ| iti dvitīyaḥ pakṣaḥ| naitau dvau pakṣau yuktau| ekaśrutervyākaraṇasmṛtau vihitatvāt| tathā ca pāṇinīyaṃ sūtram- ’yajñakarmaṇyajapanyūṅkhasāmasu’ (1|2|34) iti| ’agniṃ gṛhṇāmi suratham- ityādayo mantrā yajamānenaiva japyante| nyūhṇāḥ praṇavāḥ| sāmāni rathaṃtarādīni| etebhyo japādibhyo vyatiriktānāṃ mantrāṇāṃ yajñakarmaṇyekaśrutirbhavati| anayā ca smṛtyā'numitaṃ vedavākyametat- ’tāno yajñakarmiṇa’ iti| ’tānaḥ’ ityekaśruteḥ pūrvācāryasaṃjñā| na ca - ekaśrutitve svarādhyayanaṃ vyartham- iti vācyam| svaraviśeṣeṇa bahuvrīhitatpuruṣasamāsādiniścaye satyarthaviśeṣasyāvaboddhuṃ śakyatvāt | japādiṣu tu yathādhyayanaṃ svaraḥ prayoktavyaḥ ||

Mantras such as the offering-verses and invocatory-verses beginning with ‘Agni is the head...’ are examined on the occasion of the sāman. And these are recited in a certain branch with three accents, and by some with four accents. The fourth pitch, distinct from the acute, grave, and circumflex, is monotone, and teachers call that ‘pracaya’. There, one position is that there is a combination of the three-accent system and the rest, because the performance injunction encompasses all subsidiary elements. The second position is that there is an option, because the purpose, which is characterized by the completion of recitation, is one. Neither of these two positions is correct, because monotone is enjoined in the tradition of grammar. And so stands Pāṇini’s aphorism: ‘In a sacrificial rite, except for mutterings, nyūṅkha, and sāmans’ (1.2.34). Mantras such as ‘I seize Agni, having a good chariot...’ are only muttered by the sacrificer. Nyūṅkhas are the Praṇavas. Sāmans are the Rathaṃtara and the like. For mantras distinct from these mutterings and the like, monotone occurs in a sacrificial rite. And by this tradition, this Vedic sentence is inferred: ‘Monotone is for the performer of the sacrifice.’ ‘Tāna’ is the designation of earlier teachers for monotone. And it should not be said that if there is monotone, the study of accents is useless; because once a compound such as a bahuvrīhi or a tatpuruṣa is determined by means of a specific accent, it is possible to understand the specific meaning. But in mutterings and the like, the pitch is to be employed according to one's study.