Sediyapu Chandogati Chapter 7
(Previously: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6.)
This is a short chapter of just 10 pages, but the ideas it introduces are fundamental and clear away a lot of cobwebs of confusion.
Table of contents
- When is a chando-racanā called a padya?
- In padyagati, there’s ‘chandaḥpadagati’ and ‘bhāṣāpadagati’
- The rules of yati apply to mātrābandhas too
Chapter 7: Gati and yati: a deliberation on the principle of yati.167 0.097 0.185
Before turning from samagati (layānvita-gati) to otherwise, let’s look at yati.167 0.185 0.359
When is a chando-racanā called a padya?
Definition of padya, and relevance of meaning/words in it.167 0.359 0.663
Hahaha! Yes.167 0.663 0.897
In padyagati, there’s ‘chandaḥpadagati’ and ‘bhāṣāpadagati’
Another “experiential” claim/insight: starts of words are clearer.168 0.091 0.327
This can make the purely chandas’s gati recede to the background. Thus we have chando-gati and (bhāṣā)pada-gati.168 0.297 0.554169 0.100 0.188170 0.110 0.221
[Fn 65.1] This “clarity” is not “stress”! [At least, it doesn’t work the same as stress in English.] Example of da v/s dha.168 0.558 0.894169 0.189 0.266
[Start of Fn 65.2] Śikṣā-śāstra, svara (pitch) and mātrā. Explaining how this is not stress.169 0.260 0.627
Need to emphasize each component of a samāsa. Very useful example of “rāmanamana”: in a poem, would be read differently if “rāmana + mana” (Rāma’s mind) rather than “rāma+namana”. (What would be a good Sanskrit example?) [End of Fn 65.2]169 0.606 0.906
I had my doubts while reading this, but I can definitely agree: it is not like English stress, in that vowel quality or length is not affected. Also, all this is best understood in the context of (reciting) poetry, rather than that of normal speech.
[Fn 66] On the word “pada” (word, footstep). = Bhāṣāpada, footstep of speech. So pada-gati = bhāṣāpadagati = bhāṣāgati.170 0.547 0.834
[Fn 67] The author points out that no one so far seems to have articulated this insight that padyagati (the gati of a poem) has in it a chandaḥ-pada-gati (chandogati) and a bhāṣā-pada-gati (bhāṣāgati). 170 0.829 0.907171 0.822 0.912
A lot of Sediyapu Krishna Bhat’s insights have the nature that no one pointed them out before him, yet they are perfectly natural, even obvious, once stated. It is difficult to get credit for such things!
There must be some harmony between the two (chandogati and bhāṣāgati): the words must at least roughly follow the chandas.170 0.214 0.435
[What does this mean? How would it be possible?]170 0.426 0.531
Example I, great example. The two coincide (except one place in (b), so it’s all very clear.171 0.110 0.582
Example II. The two don’t coincide, but “enough”.171 0.574 0.821172 0.110 0.481
★ [Fn 68] What’s “enough”? Only one’s ear, refined by a good recitation tradition, is the judge.172 0.848 0.916
Start of Example III. This one, he says, is a fine kandapadya (4s). [The ‘“’ is a typo, ignore.]172 0.475 0.643
LOL! WTF Kittel!172 0.639 0.845173 0.114 0.144
The chandogati and bhāṣāgati are conflicting.173 0.141 0.334
Great functional definition of yatibhanga: if when you read the padya according to its chandogati, the meaning is not apparent, it is yatibhanga (that is, bhāṣā-pada-gati-bhanga).173 0.330 0.428
Reminders about the rules of kanda, from Fn 63. [Reread!]173 0.419 0.710
The consequence in this context.173 0.686 0.903174 0.118 0.270
The rules of yati apply to mātrābandhas too
Yati in Āryā, kanda = āryāgīti etc., even though Piṅgala doesn’t use that word exactly.174 0.266 0.763
[Fn 69] Yati originally just meant breaks/checks/pauses in the chandogati, later it came to mean those in the bhāṣā-pada.174 0.788 0.918175 0.272 0.628
[Fn 69 contd] Meanings today: (1) end of a word, (2) pause in chandas’s gati or the position thereof, (3) The rules thereof, or the idea itself.175 0.606 0.902
Summary (and this is the reason for yati rules)175 0.104 0.265176 0.107 0.265
[Fn 70] Yati in layānvita especially mātrābandha: hard to define, but you know it when you see it.176 0.674 0.907
The word “gati” in this book.176 0.260 0.674
This simple idea, that a padyagati has a chandaḥ-pada-gati and a bhāṣā-pada-gati, is so useful and illuminating!
(Thanks for reading! If you have any feedback or see anything to correct, contact me or edit this page on GitHub.)