VedicAccents

Thisintroductorydocumentdescribesaccentsinthepopularvedictraditions(gvedakhsand
taittiryakh).Itassumesthatthereaderisabletochantafewmantrasfromanaccentedtext.

Foursoundsinvedictexts

Therearefourprimarysoundsheardinvedicmantras,exemplifiedinthefamousversegantv
Accent

Marking

Example

Pitch

anudtta

underbar

Low

udtta

none

, , ,

Normal

svarita

overbar

High

drghasvarita

doubleoverbar

Normal+High

Primaryudttas
Technically,notallwovelsofthemiddlepitchareudttas.Somevowelsaretrueindependentudttas.
Othershappentobeanudttaswhicharepronouncedlikeudttasaftersomeaccentchanges.
Primaryindependentudttaswhichcauseaccentchangesinothervowelsareudttas.Secondary
dependantanudttaaccents,whichhappentobepronouncedjustlikeaudttaaftersomeaccent
changesarecalledpracaya.1
Atrueudttacausesthevowelthatprecedesittobepronouncedwithalowerpitch.Italsocausesthe
vowelthatfollowsittobepronouncedwithahigherpitch.Therearesomeexceptions,butoneofthe
twoisalmostalwaystrue.
Letuslookatourexampleonceagain,focusingonalltheudttas(vowelsofnormalpitchwhichare
unmarkedinthemaintext).Letustrytodetermineiftheseareudttasorpracayas.

Othervariantssuchassannataraaccentsareomittedhere.


Preceded
by

Normal
Pitch
Vowel

Followed
by

Normalpitchprecededbylowpitch,OR
normalpitchfollowedbyhighpitch?

Accent

udtta

pracaya

udtta

pracaya

Thetrueindependentudttaisthekeytothevedicaccentsystem.Startingfromtheudtta,wecan
accenttheremainderofthetextaccordingtothefollowingtwoprimaryrules,appliedinorder:
1. Allunmarkednonudattavowelsthatimmediatelyprecedetheudttaaretobemarkedas
anudtta(underbar)
2. Allremainingunmarkednonudattavowelsthatimmediatelyfollowtheudttaarechangedtoa
svaritaandmarkedappropriately(overbar)
Step

Text(primaryudttainred)

(Note:longvowelsvaritaslikeoftenbecomebecomedrghasvaritas.Thisisdescribedlater)
Letustakeanotherexample:
Step

Text(primaryudttainred)

Thenextexamplerequiresoneadditionalstep
3. Afterapplyingsteps1and2,anyleadingunmarkednonudattavowelsaremarkedasanudtta.
(i.e.startingfromthebeginning,markallvowelsasanudttawithanunderbaruntilyoureach
thefirstmarkedvovel,oruntilyoureachthefirstunmarkedudtta)
Step

Text(primaryudttainred)

AccentSummary
Letussummarizewhatwehaveseenthusfar:
Step
0
1

Accents
Thetextconsistsofindependentudttasinred.Everythingelsewasananudtta.
Unmarkedanudttaswhichprecededanudttaweremarkedwithanunderbar.
Unmarkedanudttaswhichfollowedanudttawerechangedtosvaritaandmarkedwith
2
anoverbar.
3
Allleadinganudttasinthetextweremarkedwithanunderbar
Note:Allunmarkedanudttasthatfollowedasvarita(afterstep2)wereleftasis.i.e.theyarepracaya
accents,andarepronouncedjustlikeudttas.

Exercises
Determinethefinalformforeachofthemantraselectionsbelow:

1.
2.
3

3.
4.
5.
6.

Accentsandsvaha

Manysdhakasperformhoma(orotheragnikrya)withvedicmantras,byaddingsvhtothemantra.
Inthesecases,thesamesvararulesthatwehaveseenthusfarwillapply.Nonewrulesarerequired2!
Fromtheperspectiveofaddingsvh,wecanrestatewhatweknow:

Ifthevowelthatprecedesthewordsvhwasananudttathatchangedtoasvaritaorudtta,
itwillchangebacktoananudtta.

Note:Itfollowsthatindependentsvaras(likeudtta)willremainunchanged.
Examples:

Intheexampleabove,ma3musthavebeenananudtta.Ifitwasoriginallyanudtta,thevowelthat
precedesit(i.e.ta)wouldhavebecomeananudtta.Sinceitwasoriginallyananudtta,itwillonce
againbecomeananudttabeforesvaah.

Intheexampleabove,lamusthaveoriginallybeenanudtta.Thus,thevowelthatprecedesit(gu)
hasbecomeananudtta.Anindepedentudttawillnotchange,andlaremainsasitbeforesvh.

Again,thelongvowelsvaritahherehasbecomeadrghasvarita.Thisisdescribedlater.
Accentsonlyapplytovowels.Thus,inma,weareonlyreferringtoa.Forclarity,theconsonantthatprecedes
itisalsoshownwithinthequotes.
3

Intheexampleabove,naisanudttaandmawasananudttawhichchangedtoasvarita.Thus,
mawillchangebacktoananudttabeforesvh.

Splittingamantra
Letuslookatoneofthemantrasfromtherudraprana:

Thetaittiryakhconsistsofmanylonganuvkassuchastheoneabove.Ifweareunabletochant
theminasinglebreath,andpauseinbetween,wemustalsomakesuretochangethesvarasaccordingly.
Forexample,theportionaboveiscommonlythoughttocontainfourseparatemantras,asshownbelow:

Eachmantraendswithanamo,andweknowthathenaisanindependentanudtta(sinceitis
precededbyananudttaye).Actually,thefinalwordisnamawhichhaschangedtonamodue
tostandardSanskritsandhirules.Thus,ifwewanttosplitthisinto4separatemantras,orwewishto
takeabreathwhilechantingthislongmantra,wechant:



Thus,theaccenthaschangedfromananudttatoanudtta.Manyvedicscholarsalwayssplitthese
longanuvakasinthiswayinordertoavoidsvararelatedmistakes.


Part2:viktisandadvancedaccents
Viktis
Afterlearningtheprimarysahittext,vedicscholarslearndifferentpatternsofthetext.4Themost
popularpatternsareshownbelow:
Name
sahit
pada
krama
ja

TextualPattern
1234
1|2|3|4|
12|23|34|
122112|233223|344334|

ghana

1221123321123|2332234432234|

Visualization

12
12
21
12
12
21
123
321
123

Note

Thefirstpartofkramaispada
Thefirstpartofjathaiskrama

Thefirstpartofghanaisjatha

Thesahit,padaandkramapatternsarenaturalpatterns,becausethetextisalwaysreadina
forwardsdirection(i.e.fromlefttoright).Thejahaandghanapatternsareartificialpatterns,because
thetextisreadbothforwardsandbackwards.
Note:itiscommonlyknownthatwordorderdoesnotmatterinSanskrit.Thisisonlypartiallytrue,and
therearemanycasesinwhichwordorderdoesmatter.Onesimpleexampleisgivenbelow:

OnlyIsaluteGaapati
IsaluteonlyGaapati
IdoindeedsaluteGaapati

Backtothetopicathand,letuslookathowthevariationsworkswiththetextualportionhavmahe
kavikavnfromourexamplemantra.Fromthepatternsdescribedearlier,wevesimplyreplaced1
withhavmahe,2withkaviand3withkavn.Withthisparticularselection,thereareno
mandatorysandhirules,whichmakesthisexerciserelativelysimple.

Frompadaphaonwards,therearealsosomeadditionalfeatures(e.g.thecomponentsofcompoundwordsare
shown).Thesearedescribedlater.

sahit

pada

krama

ja

ghana

Accentsandviktis
Theaccentrulesthatwehavestudiedapplytoallthevariations(likekrama,jahaetc).Startingwiththe
modifiedtexts,youcanyourselfapplytheruleslistedearliertogettothefinaltextbelow.
sahit

pada

krama

jaha

ghana

Jtyasvarita
Untilnow,everysvaritathatwehaveseenwasananudttathatchangedtoasvaritabecauseit
immediatelyfollowedanudtta.However,somesvaritasareformeddifferently.
Thejtyasvaritaswhichareeasiesttorecognizearethoseatthebeginningofasentence,andthosethat
immediatelyfollowananudtta(seethefirsttwoexamplesbelow).Wecannotgeneratesuchsvaritas
withtherulesthatwehaveseenthusfar,becausetheyarenotimmediatelyprecededbyudtta.
Rule#1:udtta+anudttawhichresultsinyasandhi(y,r,l,v)resultsinjtyasvaritaknownaskaipra

Rule#2:udtta+anudtta(replacedbysinglevowel)resultsinjtyasvaritaknownaspraliha

Rule#3:udtta+anudttaresultinginavagraharesultsinjtyasvaritaknownasabhinihita5

Sometimesthejtyasvaritaisapartofasingleword(havingoccurredintheformationoftheword
itself).Thus,itneednotbetheresultofwordcombinations.

Note:thesvaritaintheexamplesbelowalonghappenstobeelongatedasdescribedinalatersection

Note:inthetaittiryatradition,allsvaritas(jtyaornonjtya)arerenderedinthesameway.Intheg
vedatradition,thepronounciationofthekaipraandpralihasvaritaaccentsdiffer.Thus,theyarealso
markeddifferentlyinthetexts,asshownbelow:

Elongatedsvarita
Inthegvedastyle,anysvaritaonalongvowelispronouncedasadrghasvarita(doublebar).
Thetaittiryastyleismorerestrictive.Thedrghasvaritaoccursunderanyofthefollowingconditions:
1. alongvoweldependentsvaritaisfollowedbyaconjuctletter

2. alongvoweldepedentsvaritaisfollowedbyavisarga

3. alongvoweldependentsvaritaoccursattheendofthephrase

10



4. ashortvoweldependentsvaritaoccursattheendofthephrase,followedbyananusvra

Thewordsvhiselongatedbecauseitisusuallyfoundattheendofaphrase.Andwhenthisisnot
true,itlosesitselongationinthetaittiryatraditionasshownbelow:

Featuresofthepadapha
Inthepada,kramaandghanareadings,thereareadditionallines,whichdonotfollowthepattern
describedearlier.Thesecanbeidentifiedbythepresenceoftheworditi.Forexample,thetaittirya
gantvmantrahastheseextralines:

gaapatimisacompoundwordconsistingofgaaand
patim

describestheinternalformationofthesingleword
upamaravastamam

jyeharjamisacompoundwordconsistingofjyehaand
rjam

describestheinternalformationofthesinglewordtibhi

sdanamisthelastwordinthemantra

Theprimarypurposeoftheseextralinesinthepadaphaistodescribesomecompoundwordslike
gaapatimandtheendofmantramarkerslikesdanam.Insomecases,theinternalformationof

11

wordsliketibhiisalsodescribed.Thisissolelyduetothepeculiaritiesofthesanskritderivational
grammer6,andreallydoesntbelonginthepadapha.
Inalloftheselines,thewordisdescribedtwiceonbothsidesoftheworditi.Ontheleftside,itis
foundasis.Ontherightside,itisdividedintothetwoconstituentparts.Theworditiitselfisaccented
asshownbelow:

Therearetwostylesofdividingwordsintotwoconstituentparts.Onestyleresetsthesvaraafterthe
firstconstituentpart(i.e.treatsthesecondconstituentpartasaseparatephrase).Anotherstyledoes
notresetthesvara,thoughitpausesbetweenthewords.Thisisshownbelow:

Sandhirulesalsoapplyintheworddivision.Forexample:

Thepadaphaalsoresetssomeofthelibertiestakeninthesahittext.Thetextseenbyaiis
alwaysorrect.Whenitdoesnotfollowthepopularpninyangrammar,itisunderstoodasis
privelege.Someexamplesofthisarebelow:

Intheformationoftibih,tiisalsoconsideredtobeawordaccordingtopinisgrammar.

12

Part3:Critique&Discussion
Anusvrachanges(gum)
Inthetaittiriyastyle,theanusvrachangestoadifferentnasalbefore,,s,handr7andisheardlike
somethingresemblinggum.Forexample:

Andwhentheanusvraisalsofollowedbyaconjunctletter,adifferentsymbolisused.Thisis
pronouncedlikesomethingresemblinggus.

However,thisentiresystemofanusvrareplacementsisflawed,becauseithasintroducedanewvowel.
Thisiscrystalclearinmoderntypesettinglikethefollowing:

Thisisnotexhaustive.Forexample,tathlok{n}akalpayan.

13

Inthefirstexampleabove,thesvaritahasmovedfromytothenewlyintroducedvowel.Inthe
secondexampleabove,weseethatthefirstranolongerhasasvaritaithasalsomovedontothe
newlyintroducedvowel.Eventhefinaldrghasvaritahassubtlymovedontotheanusvra!
Wecancontrastthiswithataittiryatraditioninmahrra,wherethesamereplacmentoccurs.
However,typesettingputsthesvaraonthevowels,i.e.theanusvraisstilltreatedlikeananusvra,and
nonewvowelisintroduced.

Extravowels
Sinceaccentscanonlyberenderedonvowels,wecanfindsomecommonpronounciationproblemsby
lookingforplaceswhereanextraaccentisadded,orplaceswheretheaccentshiftswithout
justification.

Asshownabove,therepha(halfr)issometimespronouncedasastandaloneconsonantwithitsown
vowel.Itevengetsitsveryownaccentinthesecondexample!

Similarly,thesvaritaaccentonthelastvowelofaphraseisoftentransferredtothefollowingconsonant
(whichisalsoduplicated).Unfortunately,thiscanonlybepronouncedalongwithanewlyintroduced
vowel(usuallyana).

14

Thesameproblemcanalsobeseenwiththedrghasvaritaonavisargaattheendofaphrase.Thereisa
significantdifferencebetweenthepronounciationofthevisargaintheexamplesabove.Ontheright
handside,anentireaorvowelisusuallyaddedafterthevisarga.
Inallofthesecases,anadditionalvowelhasbeenintroduced,andthecommonpracticeistoaccent
thesenewvowels!Thissimplycannotbecorrect,asitwouldreflectamajorinconsistencyinthevedic
accentsystem.

Cominglingofrecitationstyles
Itisquitecommonforadherentsofaparticularvedakhtousesomemantrasfromanotherkh.
Thishasgivenrisetoasituationwherethepronounciationfollowsneithertheoriginalkhnorthe
chanterskh!

Themantraaboveisfromthegveda,andiscommonlychantedalongwiththerudraprana.The
sourceisclearsvaritaswhicharenotfollowedbyconjunctlettershavebeenelongated.However,
anusvrareplacementhasoccurredaswell!Anotherexampleisshownbelow:

Thiskindofpartialadherenceisunfortunate.Itwouldbebettertosticktoeithertheoriginalsource
chantingstyle,orcompletelyadoptthetargetchantingstyle.
Note:theproblemdoesnotdisappearbyleavingtheanusvraasis.Thereareotherdifferencesinthe
chantingstyles.Forexample,thereisusuallyanelongationofthenormalsvaritaofgvedinswhen
comparedtothetaittiryarenderingofthesamepassage.

Modernvedictexts
Therearesomevedicselectionswhichdontfollowtheaccentmethoddescribedinthisdocument,in
spiteofbeingattachedtokhsthatfollowthissystem.Thesimplestwaytoidentifytheseselectionsis
tolookforaseriesofmarkedanudttasinthemiddleofthetext(i.e.theydonotoccuratthebeginning
ofaphrase).Forexample:
nryaaskta

rskta

15

Note:thereisalesspopularSouthIndianaccentedrecension(drviapha)ofthersktawhichdoes
nothavethisproblem.
Textswhichhavethisfeaturehaveprobablylosttheiraccents.Morethanlikely,anunaccentedtextwas
found,andthetraditionwasrevivedinthepast.Intime,normallokaintonationshaveprobablybeen
mistakenforrealvedicsvaras.

Svarasandthe7tones

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

tone
aja
abha
gndhra
madhyama
pacama
dhaivata
nidha

note
sa

g
ma
pa
dha
ni

taittirya(theory)

anudtta
udtta
pracaya
svarita

taittirya(practice)

anudtta
udtta/pracaya
svarita

Thevedicsystemiscomposedof7equallyspacedtones(fromajatonidha),asheardinsmaveda
khs.Thetaittiryaaccentsystemistheoreticallycomposedoffourtones.Notably,theudttaand
pracayaaccentsaresaidtobeonetoneapart,thoughtheyareindistinguishableincurrenttraditions.
Thecurrenttaittiryatraditioniscomposedofonlythreetones.

16

Part4:Thevariousviktis
Inadditiontopadaandkrama,eightpopularviktisofthesahittextaregivenintheshlokabelow:
jamlikhrekhdhvajodaorathoghana.
aauviktayaproktkramaprvomaharibhi..
Name
pada
krama
ja

Sahit
123
123
123

ml
123
(krama)
sihkh

123

ghana

123

ml
123789
(pupa)

dhvaja

123789

daa

12345

rekh

123456

Patterm
1|2|3|
12|23|
122112|
233223|
344334|
12|21|12|
23|32|23|
23|43|34|
1221123|
2332234|
3443345|
1221123321123|
2332234432234|
3443345543345|

12|98|
23|87|
34|76|

78|32|
89|21
12|89|
23|78|
34|67|

78|23|
89|12
12|21|
12|23|321|
12|23|34|4321|
12|23|34|45|54321|...
12 | 21 |12|
234 | 432 |23|
3456 | 6543 |34|
45678|87654|45|
567890|098765|56|

17

Visualization
1
12
12
21
12
12
21
12
12
21
123
12
21
123
321
123
12|98
23|87
34|76

78|32
89|21
12|89
23|78
34|67

78|23
89|12
12
23
34
45
54321

Note

Thefirstpartof
jathaiskrama
jahawithbreaks
aftereachpair
jahafollowedby
thenextword
Thefirstpartof
ghanaisjatha/
sihkh

Forwardsand
backwards

Pairs,forwardsand
backwards

ratha

12345678 12|56|
21|65|
12|56|
23|67|
321|765|
12|56|
23|67|
34|78|
4321|8765

Takingthe4thwordofamantra,wefindthefollowinguniquesequences:
SequenceLength Sequence
Examplevikti
1
4
pada
krama
34
krama
45
ja
2
44
ja
43
ja
54
ghana
234
ghana
345
ghana
456
3
ghana
432
ghana
543
ghana
654
3456
rekh
4
4321
daa
rekh
45678
daa
5
54321
daa
654321

sahit

18

simultaeousdaa
oftwohalves

padam

mala

19

References
svaramajarbytryambakabalavantaabhayakar(withpartialtranslation):
http://sanskritdocuments.org/all_pdf/svaramanj.pdf
vedicaccentsbycharleswikner:
http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/vedic/Vedic_accents_doc.pdf
svaritaaccentsbyvidyankarsundarean:
http://www.advaitavedanta.org/archives/advaital/2009February/021338.html
amonographonthesvarasofthetaittiryakayajurvedabyshriramanasharma:
http://www.sanskritweb.net/sansdocs/svaras.pdf
apracticalguidetosvarasinvedicrecitationbyaravind
http://manasataramgini.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/svaras_new.pdf
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/music/dcohen/coremusic/fall2009/veda.html
vaidikasvarammsbyyudhihirammsaka
vaidikasvarabodhabyvrajabihrcaube

20