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Sri
Mattapalli Naatham Pranathosmi Nithyam Namaha
Chapter
17 : The Vedangas : Chandas - The feet of the Vedas
Chandas,
which is one of the six limbs of the Vedas, is regarded as the feet
of the Veda Purusha. 'Chandas' has another meaning. It refers to the
Vedas themselves. Lord Krishna refers to the Vedas as leaves of the
tree of creation.
Here
I am going to deal with 'Chandas' in a different sense meaning
'metric composition.'
Rig
Veda and Saama Veda are wholly in verses. Although Yajus has mantras
in prose, they come interspersed with verses. Vedas being mostly in
verse-form (Chandas), also came to be known as Chandas.
If
we want a coat, the tailor takes our measurements. He cuts and
stitches the cloth accordingly. If measurements are not taken, the
coat may not fit. Likewise, if our thoughts are to be expressed in
poetry, if the thoughts are to assume the image of poetry, and
clothed in verse-form, it must have proper measurements. Like a coat
being so many inches long and broad, a verse has to have a specified
'metre' and number of letters in it, to obtain a good fit. Chandas
lays down the rules for this. It defines the boundaries of metrical
composition -into metre, rhyme, etc. The important and authoritative
book on the subject is the 'Chandas Sutra' by Pingala.
As
mentioned already the organ which is regarded as the feet of the Veda
Purusha is Chandas. Those who have been initiated into Mantra Japa,
touch their head, when the name.of the Rishi is mentioned, touch
their nose when its Chandas or metre is named, and touch the heart
when the name of the Devata or the presiding deity of the mantra is
mentioned.
All
the Veda mantras in the form of poetry are 'Chandas'. The others,
i.e. those which are not part of Vedas are called 'Slokas'. Prose is
called 'Gadya' and Chandas is called 'Padya' in Sanskrit. In English
it is poetry. Thus, not only is Vedic poetry called 'Chandas' but
'Chandas' also refers to the metre or rhyme of any poetic expression
which are all rhythmic. Of these metres, anushtup is the one which is
extensively used. The slokas of the Puraanas and Valmiki Ramayana are
all in this Anushtup metre. Chandas is thus synonymous with rhyme
also.
There
are rules as to how many paadas or quartrets or steps are to be in
each Vrtta or Stanza and how many letters are to be in each paadaa or
line. There is a Chandas called Aarya which has also to take into
account the short and long sounds. In this Chandas, the word 'Raama'
is not reckoned as having two maatras only, viz., 'Raa' and 'ma'.
'Raa' is the long sound and counted as two maatras, 'ma' which is
short as one, total three.
There
is another method of calculation for other Vrittas where the long and
short sounds are not differentiated and, in each stanza, the number
of words in a paada are kept constant.
Paada
or foot
I
called Chandas as such being the feet (paada) of the Veda Purusha.
The foot is called paada or pada in Sanskrit. Also in English, the
reckoning is in terms of 'feet' in a stanza. The metres in English
also stipulate how many letters should there be in each foot. The
foot, which denotes the end of the leg, also denotes the unit of
division of a stanza. Thus, the foot or pada (or its equivalent) is a
common expression in many languages having the same meaning. It is
indeed heartening to find, in any field, an example showing a
similarity common to all mankind. In a mantra or in a sloka, a paada
is a quarter portion of it. In the human anatomy, the organ called
'leg' is indeed one fourth part. Half the body is upto the hip; of
the remaining half below, each of the two legs is one quarter adding
upto half.
A
Veda mantra or even a non-Vedic sloka is generally a quartet. In most
cases, these are split into four, using an equal number of letters or
equal number of maatras for each paada. Where one paada is not equal
to another paada, it is called Vishama. Vishama is actually Vi-sama
which means not equal or same.
If
all the paadas are different in length, it is said to be in "Vishama
Vrtta".
Every
alternate paada being dissimilar " is called "Ardha Sama
Vrtta" . That is, there will be a difference in the number of
letters between the first and the se- cond paada as well as between
the third and the fourth paada. The second and the fourth Paada will
be of equal number of syllables.
However,
in most cases the paadas will be equal in length. For example, let us
take the most commonly known prayer -sloka: "Suklaambaradharam
Vishnum / Sasi Varnam Chaturbhujam / Prasanna Vadanam Dhyaayet /
Sarva Vighnopasaantaye': Let us take the four paadas in it. First,
"Suklaambaradhaam Vishnum'; second, "Sasi Varnam
Chaturbhujam'; third, "Prasanna Vadanam Dhyaayet" and
fourth. ~'Sarva Vighnopasaantaye': If counted, each paada will have
only eight syllables -not the letters in English but the syllables in
Sanskrit :
For
counting the aksharas or syllables only vowels and consonants with
vowels imposed thereon are to be taken into account. Pure consonants
should be ignored. Only then will the above add up rightly to eight.
Slokas
like this, which have four paadas to a stanza with each paada having
eight syllables are said to be in Anushtup Chandas.
The
story of the birth of the poetic Chandas
Unlike
in the Vedas, where the pitch of the sounds is raised or lowered to
produce tonal variations or Swara there is no such method with Kaavya
(Poetry) or other slokas. The Anushtup metre of the Vedas with
variations in pitch was first adopted by Valmiki but without the
variations. He did not do it deliberately or by design. He happened
to see a hunter killing one out of a pair of birds. Then his great
compassion towards the bereaved bird which saw its mate fall dead
became transformed into intense ,anger towards the hunter. He then
cursed the hunter thus :
Maanishaada
pratisthaam twamagamah Saaswateessa-maah
Yatkrounchamithunaadekamavadheeh Kaamamohitam
"0
hunter, may you not fare well at any time; you who have killed one
out of the pair of Krounchas who were happily engaged in love:'
Without the slightest intention, his curse, which was the result of
his great anger, became so worded and got formed. The Sage Valmiki
then repented for his emotional outburst and thought deeply over it.
Then suddenly an idea struck him. He was a saint who was gifted with
divine vision (Gnaana Drshti). He realised that his curse was
composed in Anushtup metre with four paadas and each paada having
eight syllables. Just as the emotions surfaced without his knowledge,
the well-set poetic composition in the form of a curse was also not
of his deliberate making. He was amazed. He realised that his curse
had another meaning to it. What he said to the hunter as a curse
could well sustain the meaning: "0 Lord of Lakshmi, it will
bring you eternal glory for having killed the male of a happy couple,
who lost his head completely in lust:' This stanza in verse thus
fitted Sri Rama, the Avatar of Vishnu perfectly. Rama took Avatar in
order to kill the lustful Ravana. Though happily married to Mandodari
Ravana was a slave of lust and passions and sought other women.
Valmiki saw the divine hand in this incident of the verse which
spontaneously burst forth from him. He was assured by Lord Brahma,
the creator Himself, and he began to compose the Ramayana in the same
Anushtup metre.
It
is from here that a sloka without Vedic Swara (tonal variations) took
birth. He rejoiced in the fact that he had fortuitously obtained the
means of propagating high truths which people could conveniently
commit to memory and remember. As the first ever poetic composition
of the world the story of Rama was unfolded by him in incomparable
beauty in the Anushtup metre. Ramayana is, therefore, called
Adi-Kavya or the first poetic composition.
Prose
is liable to be forgotten, difficult to commit to memory. Poetry is
easy to remember as it is bound by metre. That is why in early days,
most things were expressed in verse. When printing was invented, it
became unnecessary to retain everything in one's memory, as they
could well be recorded in books and so the prose form developed. But,
as a vehicle of expression, poetry is more picturesque and has more
vigour and beauty.
The
birth of Ramayana was solely due to the divine grace in that the
poetic expression (chandas) was unwittingly created. This set the
pattern for the writing of other stotras (hymns in praise) puraanas,
mythology, and kaavyas (poems) in the form of slokas -verse form.
Some
types of metre
Indra
Vajra, Upendra Vajra, Sragdhara etc. are some of the many metres used
in stotras and kaavyas. Some are very complicated and can be composed
only by those who are learned.
I
said that 'Anushtup' was the name of the metre where a paada had
eight syllables. If there are nine syllables it is called 'Brihatee'
. Where there are ten letters to a paada it is called 'Pangti' .
'Trishtup' metre contains eleven syllables to a paada. Jagati
contains twelve and so on. Thus, there are metres containing as many
as twenty-six syllables to a paada as in the metre called Udkrti in
the pattern called Bhujanga Vijrmbhitam . Any metre beyond 26
syllables to a paada is called Dandakam .There are many types here
too.
The
names of some metres are beautiful, appropriate and infused with
poetic grace. The letters in a certain metre go leaping like a tiger
at play. This is cal)ed Sardoola Vikreeditam. Saardoola is tiger.
Vikreedita is play. This contains nine- teen letters to a paada and
is a type of Ati Dhriti metre or fast tempo. Within each paada the
syllables are split into two groups of twelve and seven. The metre
which sounds like a creeping snake is called Bhujanga Prayatam.
Bhujanga is snake. This is one of the types of 'Jagati' metre which
has twelve letters to a paada. Under the rules, normally it is
necessary for the twelve syllables to be equally split into six and
six. For e.g. (Ma-yoo-raa-dhi-roo dham. Ma ha-vaakya goo-dham).
The
Soundarya Lahari of Sri Adi Sankaracharya is in the Sikarini metre.
Here each pada has seventeen syllables (Adyashti is the general name
of metres with seventeen syllables to a pada). If the seventeen
letters are split into six and eleven, it is called 'Sikharini'. In
Sragdharaa, another metre, there is a resonant flow of sounds, as
though the sounds are crammed in the mouth and rush out like flood
waters. Here, the twenty-one syllables of each paada are split into
three with seven letters in each group. Sankaracharya's descriptive
hymns on Iswara and Vishnu called 'Keshaadi paada' and 'Paadaadi
kesa' stotras are in this metre.
Indra
Vajra which I mentioned earlier is one type of the 'Trishtup' metre
with eleven syllables in a paada. Upendra Vajra also has eleven
syllables to a paada but split differently. Both these, when mixed,
form the upajaati metre in which Kalidasa begins his 'Kumara
Sambhavam'.
These
metres pertain to the post-Vedic poetry and hymns. The metres which
appear in the Vedas are : Gaayatri, Ushnik, Anushtup, Brihati,
Pankti, Trishtup, Jagati, etc.
The
metre in which the King of Mantras -the Gaayatri Maha Mantra -is
composed is named after the mantra itself as "Gaayatri Chandas".
Generally,
a mantra is named after the Devata to whom it pertains. 'Siva
Panchaakshari', 'Narayana Ashtaakshari', 'Rama Trayodasi', are the
names of some mantras which combine the name of the Devata with the
number of syllables in the mantra. The Devata for Gaayatri mantra is
Savita. GaayatrI is only the name of the metre. But the mantra has
baen named after its metre as Gaayatri mantra. Just as sound and
swara have divine powers, it would seem that similar is the case with
the metre and its composition.
I
said earlier that four quarters (feet) make one mantra or sloka and
therefore, whether it is a mantra or a sloka, it must have four
paadas. But, contrary to this general rule, Gaayatri has only three
paadas. Gaayatri is the name of the metre with three paadas with
eight syllables in each pada, making a total of twenty-four syllables
or Aksharas. Since it has three paadas, it is called 'Tripaada
Gaayatri'. There are other types of Gaayatri also. The first mantra
of the Rig Veda starting with 'Agni Meelay' is set in the Gaayatri
metre.
In
some poetic hymns, the 24-syllable Gaayatri metre is split into four
paadas with six letters in each.
Each
paada with seven syllables -making a total of twenty- eight syllables
is called 'Ushnik'.
The
advantages of metres
When
a mantra has taken form,"Siksha ( Another Vedanga ) ensures its
correct pronunciation in the proper pitch and tone. But to ensure
that the form of the mantra is correct, the 'Chandas' is necessary.
The form of the mantra cannot go wrong, because it is not composed as
a result'of the laboured effort of any sage but they are the result
of the flash of divine grace revealed to the sages in meditation.
When
we are learning a Veda Sukta or mantra, what helps us to make sure
that it is in its original form, is the Chandas. If, on counting, the
syllables in a mantra are not correct, then we can determine the
correct version from those who know.
But,
apart from mantras, which came into being by themselves, the poets
who labour with poetic compositions are solely guided by the metre in
translating their thoughts in words in the form of slokas. What the
beat of time is to music, chandas is to slokas. Because it is brought
within a framework, it gets a predetermined shape or form. It is also
easy to memorise if set to metre.
Chandas
alone ensures that the original form of the Vedic text is kept
absolutely intact, without adding or substracting even one syllable.
It is only proper that no liberties are taken with the Vedic sounds.
Even a small plus or minus is bound to disturb their spiritual
content.
The
feet of the Veda represent the nose of the mantra
Each
mantra is dedicated to a Devata. Therefore, each mantra has a
presiding deity. There is a chandas especially for it and there is a
rishi who gave it to the world. The rishi who brought it to the
knowledge of the world is the rishi of the mantra. When one touches
his head on repeating the name of the rishi, before starting the
mantra, it is symbolically placing the feet of the sage on one's head
as a mark of reverence, because the mantras were made available to us
only through the sages.
When
we mention the Chandas of a mantra we touch the nose with our finger.
The mantra's sole guardian is the chandas. It is the nature of its
life-breath. Hence we touch the nose which controls the life-breath.
There can be no life without breath. Similarly for mantras, Chandas
is the breath. However, if Veda as a whole is personified, Siksha is
its nose and Chandas its feet.
Just
as we stand on our legs, the Veda Purusha stands on chandas. We
cannot stand up without legs, The body of the Vedas rests on the
Chandas which are in the nature of feet.
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SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
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