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Scroll.in
12 hours ago
- Scroll.in
GN Devy explores what we can learn about the Vedic Indo-Aryan language from its use in the Rig Veda
The unique creation of Sanskrit was an unparalleled oral tradition far surpassing instead of creating any orthographic system. More or less the same time when the Indo-Aryan language started evolving its first branch in South Asia were emerging the ancient Greek (1450 BCE), ancient Chinese (1250 BCE), Aramaic (1100 BCE), and Hebrew (1000 BCE). Some other languages, beginning with Egyptian, had already developed their scripts. These include: the Sumerian, Hattic, and Elamite language isolates, Hurrian from the small Hurro–Urartian family, Afro–Asiatic in the form of the Egyptian and Semitic languages, and Indo-European such as Anatolian languages and Mycenaean Greek. Besides, there are some scripts such as the Proto-Elamite script, the Indus script, Cretan hieroglyphs, Linear A, and the Cypro–Minoan syllabary, awaiting to be deciphered. Of course, writing cannot be considered the only proof of the existence of an ancient language. For example, the oldest Avestan texts – the Gathas – are believed to have been composed before 1000 BCE, but the oldest Avestan manuscripts date from the 13th century BCE. The Vedic Indo-Aryan language created literary records in the form of the Vedas, but for generations, it continued to be transmitted entirely orally. Not all oral traditions in human history are mere assemblages of chance stories and songs. Not all oral societies can be dismissed as 'primitive'. The pastoral bands which became the bridge between the Indo-European and India were certainly not primitive. They had already evolved well-organised social conventions, particularly the contract system between the host and the guest (the yajaman system), well-set methods of alliances (marriage within one's 'kula' and 'gotra'), and ritual offerings to divinities. Besides, they had developed remarkable traditions of poetry and myth – which subsequently surface in the epics in Greece and India. David W Anthony observes, 'Their social system was maintained by myths, rituals, and institutions that were adopted by others, along with the poetic language that conveyed their prayers to the gods and ancestors. Long after the genetic imprint of the original immigrant chiefs faded away, the system of alliances, obligations, myths and rituals that they introduced was still being passed on from generation to generation.' The oral poetic creation of the earliest of the Vedic singers, therefore, was not made of a chance and sentimental outburst. It was already rooted in a tradition of myth, cosmology, and a world view. The Rig Veda gave the cosmology, myth, and ritual an unparalleled mechanics of memory. English Indologist Ralph TH Griffith, in his preface to The Hymns of the Rigveda, observes: Rhyme is not used in the Rigveda. The meters are regulated by the number of syllables in the stanza, which consists generally of three or four Padas, measures, divisions, or quarter verses, with a distinctly marked interval at the end of the second Pada, and so forming two hemistiches or semi-stanzas of equal or unequal length. These Padas most usually contain eight or eleven or twelve syllables each; but occasionally they consist of fewer and sometimes of more than these numbers. The Padas of a stanza are generally of equal length and of more or less corresponding prosodic quantities: but at times two or more kinds of meters are employed in one stanza, and then the Padas vary in quantity and length. As regards quantity, the first Syllables of the Pada are not subject to very strict laws, but the last four are more regular, their measure being generally iambic in Padas of eight and twelve syllables and trochaic in those of eleven. The verses are organised, in ascending order, in terms of 'rik' (verse praising a deity), 'sukta' (a small group of mantras or verses), 'anuvak' (a complete section containing several suktas or sub-sections), and 'mandala' (a 'book' as in an epic or a set of suktas). There are ten mandalas, 85 anuvaks, and 1,028 suktas in the Rig Veda (or Rik-veda), constituting a total of 10,552 'mantras'. Scholars tend to think that it may have taken a century or a little longer to develop this vast body of Vedic verses. Since then, for the last 33 centuries, the entire corpus gets recited in Ved-pathshalas (where a disciplined recitation of Vedas is taught from generation to generation) by committing it to memory, literally syllable by syllable, almost entirely in the same way as its original composers – the makers of these richas or the rishis – may have recited them three millennia ago. The architecture of the verses – their meters, syllabic arrangement, caesuras, rhythm – was moulded to make their memorisation possible for any well-trained reciter of the corpus. The amazing mnemonics have hardly a parallel. The ingenuity of its method perhaps can be compared with the method which the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716) invented, in another continent and in another time, for bringing taxonomies used in diverse disciplines under the rubric of a single 'universal knowledge'. However, I would like to add that the analogy is not intended to support any absurd claim about the Rig Veda having anticipated modern computers resulting out of Leibniz's method; it is purely to underscore the remarkable insight which the composers of the Veda had into the nature of human memory. A profound understanding of the interlocking of the poetic meter and the working of memory was the principal feature of the Vedic mnemonics. In order to grasp the genius of the Vedic poets, it may help to mention that English poetry works mainly within five meters: iambic, trochaic, and spondaic having two-syllable feet; and anapaestic and dactylic having three-syllable feet. Compare these with the amazing range of the Vedic meters such as, principally, the Gayatri, Ushnih, Anushtubh, Brihati, Pankti, Trishtubh, Jagati, and additionally, the Atijagati, Shakkari, Atishakkari, Ashti, Atyashti, Dhriti, Atidhriti, Kriti, Prakriti, Akriti, Vikriti, Sanskriti, Atikriti, and Utkriti.
Time of India
17 hours ago
- Time of India
Deep Ocean Mission: Samudrayaan in sight, India takes a 5,002m plunge
NEW DELHI: In a first-of-its-kind expedition, India sent an aquanaut 5,002m deep into the ocean as part of the country's Deep Ocean Mission, which involves development of crewed and uncrewed submersibles and deep-sea mining technologies, aimed at harnessing resources from the Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf. As part of Indo-French research collaborations, two Indian aquanauts - Jatinder Pal Singh and Raju Ramesh - successfully completed one deep dive each in the North Atlantic Ocean in the French submersible "Nautile" on August 5 and 6. Happening as it did around a month after Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to reach International Space Station, Union earth sciences minister Jitendra Singh Thursday called it India's quest for a double conquest. "We have an Indian going into space and an Indian going into the deep ocean almost simultaneously," he said. Ramesh, a scientist at National Institute of Ocean Technology, went 4,025m down on August 5, followed by a dive of 5,002m by Navy commander (retd) Singh on August 6. "This expedition was conducted as part of Deep Ocean Mission. One of the verticals of DOM aims to develop technology to harness non-living ocean resources and a submersible which can carry humans to the deepest parts of the ocean," said M Ravichandran, secretary, ministry of earth sciences. He said more dives will be undertaken in the same submersible before India conducts a deep dive in indigenous 'Matsya 6000' submersible, which could happen around Dec 2027, under 'Samudrayaan' project. 'Shux may meet PM this weekend' Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the second Indian to travel to space and the first to visit ISS, is expected to arrive in India this weekend and is set to meet PM Modi before leaving for hometown Lucknow to meet family, reports Surendra Singh. This was revealed by space minister Jitendra Singh, who said Shukla will return to Delhi for National Space Day celebrations on August 23.
India Today
a day ago
- India Today
Indian aquanauts make record 5,000-metre dive in Atlantic Ocean, plant tricolour
In a first-of-its-kind achievement, two Indian aquanauts have plunged more than 5,000 metres below sea level, planting the Indian flag, and the French flag, on the ocean bed during a landmark Indo-French deep-sea part of a collaboration with France, National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) experts Raju Ramesh and Cdr (Retired) Jatinder Pal Singh boarded the French research vessel off Portugal, joining the Nautile submersible team for what would become an expedition to the depths of the dives, reaching 4,025 and then 5,002 metres, were undertaken inside Nautile, a state-of-the-art French submersible capable of operating at depths up to 6,000 metres and equipped with robotic arms, sensors, and cameras for underwater operations. Photo: PIB Using the submersible's manipulator, the aquanauts marked their historic presence by planting both nations' flags at the crushing depths, enduring extreme conditions and demonstrating the capabilities required for such five-member NIOT contingent gained invaluable hands-on experience in crucial aspects of human deep-sea dives: pre-dive preparation, habitability, buoyancy management, trajectory tracking, communication protocols, and meticulous dive lessons are particularly relevant as India accelerates preparations for its Samudrayaan mission, where its indigenous Matsya-6000 crewed submersible will soon conduct dives to similar jet lag, multiple flights, and more than a week aboard their vessel in rough seas, the Indian divers' success marks a watershed moment for Indian ocean exploration, proving national expertise and resilience on the global stage. NIOT Director Prof. Balaji Ramakrishnan highlighted the significance: 'Every single component for our Matsya dives is being crafted to withstand the extreme pressure and conditions of the deep ocean.' Samudrayaan during harbour wet test. (Photo: NIOT) The experience gained from the pioneering Indo-French Nautile venture is already being channeled into the final phase of the Samudrayaan mission, scheduled to make India one of only six countries to send a crewed submersible into the abyssal developed by NIOT, will ferry three persons to 6,000m depths in a titanium alloy sphere, facilitating mineral exploration, marine biodiversity studies, and deep-sea rescue India pushes the frontiers of deep ocean science, this historic dive stands as a symbol of international cooperation, technical mastery, and the promise of greater discoveries awaiting beneath the waves.- EndsMust Watch
