The Music of Hindostan c15.s1.45

c15.s1.45

There was a doubt, as we saw, about the relative position of udātta and svarita: in the Rgveda the svarita is above, but there is reason to think it may originally have been below the udātta. This doubt, reflected in (i) and (iii) above, is natural if we consider the nature of the svarita, which started on the udātta, rose a little above it, and fell much below it. It was natural that in recitation, where the question of exact pitch did not come up, the fall should be the conspicuous thing, and in its general effect the svarita come to be considered below the udātta; but that, when the pitch came to be defined in chanting, the rise should rather attract attention, since a fall or cadential phrase took place for other reasons than the fact that the syllable had a svarita accent, whereas the rise was peculiar to the svarita note, and therefore in its particular effect the svarita was above the udātta.