A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s5.9

v1.c8.s5.9

The Uttarārcika, the second part of the Sāmaveda-Saṃhitā, consists of four hundred chants, mostly of three stanzas each,² out of which the stotras which are sung at the chief sacrifices are formed. While in the Ārcika the stanzas are arranged partly according to the metre, partly according to the gods to which they are addressed (in the sequence: Agni, Indra, Soma), the chants in the Uttarārcika are arranged according to the order of the principal sacrifices.¹ A stotra then, consists of several, usually three stanzas, which are all sung to the same tune, namely to one of the tunes which the Ārcika teaches. We may compare the Uttarārcika to a song-book in which the complete text of the songs is given, while it is presumed that the melodies are already known. It is usually assumed that the Uttarārcika is of later origin than the Ārcika.² In favour of this assumption is the fact that the Ārcika contains many "yonis," therefore also many melodies, which do not occur at all in the chants of the Uttarārcika, and that the Uttarārcika also contains some songs for which the Ārcika teaches no melody. On the other hand, however, the Uttarārcika is an essential completion of the Ārcika: the latter is as it were, the first, the former the second course in the instruction of the udgātar.