Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.28

c9.28

As has been already indicated, recitation of Vedic texts was cultivated as an art by itself. A great value and potency attached to the very sounds of the letters and syllables by which the sacred words were uttered. Such utterance was not left to mere natural or individual pronunciation but was artificially regulated by metres. The passage i, 164, 24 is very explicit on this point. It states how by conjunction of letters (strictly syllables) are produced seven metres [akshareṇa mimate (i.e. nirmāṇaṁ kurvati, makes) *sapta vāṇīḥ* (i.e. sapta chhandāṁsi). These seven metres are known as (1) Gāyatrī, (2) Paṁkti, (3) Anushṭup, (4) Bṛihatī, (5) Virāj, (6) Trishṭup, and (7) Jagatī, being made up respectively of 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, and 48 syllables. The same verse defines a *Chhandas* or *Metre* being made of *Pādas* or divisions and *Pādas* of *Aksharas*. Thus, as explained by Sāyaṇa, the Akshara is the root of the division of the Rigveda into *Varga*, *Sūkta* or *Anuvāka* [Aksharaiḥ pādāḥ parimīyaṁte | Parimitaiḥ pādaiśchhaṁdāṁsi | Tataḥ pādānāṁ chhaṁdasāmaksharaṁ mūlamiti | Tathā Ṛigvarga-sūktānuvākādīnāṁ chāksharaṁ mūlamiti akshara-praśaṁsā |].