Index of posts so far:

Inspired/encouraged by Shatavadhani Ganesh (and more recently by Sridatta A), I’ve finally started reading Sediyapu Krishna Bhat’s Chandogati. I’m happy I did so; this is an exceptional work.

This is a kind of work on prosody rather different from the usual texts like Vṛtta-ratnākara and others. Although I’m only on the second fifth chapter so far, I find it quite methodical and clarifying. More on the book as a whole (and some of its interesting points) later. Anyway, I echo the statement that this work ought to be available to more people, hopefully translated into English or Sanskrit or Hindi or whatever.

The work comes for high praise in Ganesh’s lecture:

  • Just as, after Newton, the next big work was done by Einstein (some 200 years later), thus after Anandavardhana, the next big thing was done by Sediyapu (some 1000 years later).
    Anandavardhana did seminal, path-breaking research in Indian aesthetics of literature. Something similarly insightful was next done by Sediyapu.
    – Ganesh, at ~25:00 in lecture on Sediyapu Krishna Bhat.

(See also the nice “nelasampige” poem by Sediyapu (saying his work will become valued after he’s gone) – around 41:00 in the lecture.)

It is not my place or intention to translate this work. (In a work like this, the author is very careful and precise with his language, including resorting to vague words exactly when appropriate, and translation could easily add to the confusion and distort the intention.) But at least I can make a “map” of the work, for myself to read this work again and quickly jump to relevant sections, and maybe it can be useful to other interested Kannada readers too. The start of such a thing is below.

Below are the pages from Chapter 1 of Chandas-sampuṭa by Sediyapu Krishna Bhatta.

Chapter 1: The meaning of “laya” (in various sources).53 0.1 0.25

The term “laya” is used in many senses.53 0.24 0.505

Never defined clearly.53 0.5 0.575

Chandas and saṃgīta are inextricably linked.53 0.572 1.000

“Laya” is worth defining clearly.54 0.109 0.193

(Footnote 1 continued, footnote 2.)54 0.690 0.854

It’s an old term; what do dictionaries say?54 0.190 0.403

Amarakośa54 0.403 0.688

Footnote 3: what are Āvāpa and niṣkrama?54 0.848 0.898

Amarakośa continued: “tāla” = actions taken to measure time; “laya” = the equality of these measured time intervals55 0.051 0.425

[Measured by gīta / vādya / nṛtya]55 0.425 0.754

Footnotes 4, 5, 6, 755 0.771 0.933

layānvita (samanvita-layaḥ) (tālabaddha) = something that uniformly fits some tāla56 0.112 0.403

tāla = originally, clapping of hands (ಕೈತಟ್ಟುವಿಕೆ)56 0.377 0.833

Footnote 8: More on tāla = ಕೈತಟ್ಟುವಿಕೆ56 0.836 0.90557 0.591 0.838

tāla = the act of measuring out time (such as by clapping); layānvita / samanvitalaya = being able to be measured by (i.e. fitting) uniformly-spaced claps57 0.113 0.386

Footnote 957 0.836 0.910

<- Summary57 0.383 0.587

With this, end of Kośa. Next, Nāṭyaśāstra.58 0.112 0.195

laya = equality of mātra-s (duration of utterance) of different parts of a verse. (“parts” = akṣara-puñja, chandaḥ-khaṇḍa)58 0.192 0.486

Footnotes 10 and 1158 0.484 0.647

Footnote 1258 0.645 0.90959 0.481 0.790

No contradiction with Amara59 0.108 0.355

The mātrākāla here is not an absolute unit of time like “1 second”; it’s a relative (and arbitrary) unit and up to the speaker.59 0.354 0.480

Footnote 13: elaboration.59 0.785 0.91560 0.609 0.834

Same in music: can lengthen/shorten the equal units60 0.109 0.598

Footnote 14: some informal/other meanings of “laya”60 0.830 0.908

Footnote 14 continued: we become conscious of equality of events only when they end. This relates to other two meanings of “laya” (līna, and end).61 0.269 0.854

Music has laya of druta-madhya-vilambita; these don’t apply to chandas.61 0.107 0.254

Footnote 15: A different “druta” and “vilambita” exist in chandas and will be discussed later.61 0.848 0.940

With words (chando-bandha) can say fast or slow; only relative time matters. Music is different.62 0.115 0.641

“laya” was earlier used for equality; now used for the times themselves?62 0.638 0.87863 0.107 0.331

Footnote 16: generic and particular.63 0.735 0.896

Examples of metonymy in language.63 0.325 0.721

Reconciliation of meanings.64 0.110 0.613

From above. I’ve repeated it here, as I yet lack a way to highlight. :-)64 0.194 0.242

More in music: pause64 0.609 0.935

Pause after tāla65 0.106 0.235

Longer duration of repeating equal pattern $\iff$ faster repetition / speech / action, so “laya” is also used for speed/tempo, too.65 0.232 0.537

Footnote 17 (example of above).65 0.835 0.906

But ideally, only when there’s actually equality!65 0.511 0.832

More on the laya = tempo/speed sense, as found in śikṣā66 0.107 0.787

Start of (long) Footnote 18, on “laya” in words like “svaralaya”, “śrutilaya”, “tantrīlaya”66 0.761 0.949

Footnote 18 continued :-) “tantrīlaya” in Ramayana, the meaning given by commentators67 0.122 0.696

[Footnote 18 continued] But that meaning doesn’t fit here; Anuṣṭup has no laya67 0.675 0.898

[Footnote 18 continued] Given the singing context in Sarga 4, “fits with music” (veena) makes more sense.68 0.135 0.397

[Footnote 18 continued] The “special” meaning given by someone does not make sense.68 0.372 0.912

[Footnote 18 concluded] No special other meaning.69 0.475 0.854

Footnote 19. Just a regular footnote :-)69 0.847 0.917

None of these “speed” meanings apply to chandas.69 0.114 0.280

Summary / reiteration69 0.263 0.471

And here end the pages.

To summarize, what this chapter has done is define the term “laya”. If I had to say it in my own words, my summary would be something like the following. Laya is equality of extent — laya is when different “units” (in the context of prosody, different “chunks” of a verse) have the same duration (as measured by various means: tāla). (By extension, “laya” is also the subjective experience one has of this equality; it is also the “end” or “pause” after such equal units; it is also the actual extent (duration) of those equal units; and by further extension as in music it’s also the “speed” — but the fundamental meaning remains: something has “laya” when different parts of it are equal in extent.)

For someone in the world of Kannada scholarship, it may be a big deal to throw away all the loose ways in which “laya” is being used, and replace those with this one meaning. But for someone like me who’s just reading this book to learn something, what we’ve already gained so far is a particular meaning, made exceptionally clear and precise (for which it would be a shame not to have a word). And we will see in later chapters that this meaning of laya is hammered in even deeper. The book is structured like a mathematics textbook (or long proof): every chapter builds on the previous ones, and if you open Chapter $n$ without having read Chapters $1$ to $n-1$, you’re likely to find yourself not understanding much.

(A technical note about these page: the CSS is a big wonky, e.g. the images get distorted in aspect ratio when the available width decreases. I don’t know of a way to avoid it and still prevent jitter while the image is being loaded. Let me know if you can help.)