History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c51.91.1

v3.c51.91.1

Most of the sāman chants are taken from the Ṛgveda. In reciting a verse from the Ṛgveda attention has to be paid to the accents called udātta, anudātta and svarita. When the same verse is chanted as a sāman, one has to attend besides to the notes of the melody to which the verse is being sung. The way of marking the accents of the Ṛgveda verse is not followed when it is taken in the Sāmaveda. The svarita of the Ṛgveda is represented in the Sāmaveda MSS. in several ways, but generally by the figure 2 written above the letter and anudātta preceding an udātta is represented in the Sāmaveda saṁhitā by the figure 3 and udātta following an anudātta has the figure one placed on the letter. There are further detailed rules about these accents and also other marks which are not set out here. Only one further remark is made. The letter 'ra' preceded by 3 is placed over a svarita coming after the udātta which follows another udātta. Modern sāma singers have generally no knowledge of these ancient rules and signs but only chant as they learned from their teachers, nor do their chants always agree with the notations in the several MSS. Further there is a certain monotony and sameness in their melodies. If one hears a modern singer sing songs in several rāgas like the *Jogī* or *Jhinjoṭī* or *Khamāch* a person totally ignorant of the rāgas can feel, however vaguely, the difference between the two. But this is not so when a Rathantara melody or a Bṛhat melody is sung.