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Vedic chanting is the recitation from memory of the Vedas, Hinduism's oldest scriptures, in Sanskrit. For some three thousand years chanters have kept the exact words, pitch accents and pronunciation by also reciting the words in set patterns that make any slip easy to spot.

Vedic chant

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The story behind the card

The oldest of the four Vedas, the Rigveda, was composed roughly between 1500 and 1000 BC and was passed on by memory for many centuries before anyone wrote it down; pupils still learn it by ear from a teacher. Besides reciting a text straight through, chanters learn it in fixed rearrangements called pathas. In a simple one, the words are chanted in overlapping pairs (1-2, 2-3, 3-4); in the most complex, ghana, they run forwards and backwards in long interlocking loops. Because every version must match the others, a slip in one shows up at once. UNESCO proclaimed the tradition of Vedic chanting a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003.

Türkçe oku
Vedik okuma, Hinduizmin en eski kutsal metinleri olan Sanskritçe Vedaların ezberden okunmasıdır. Okuyucular yaklaşık üç bin yıldır sözcükleri, perde vurgularını ve telaffuzu hiç değiştirmeden aktarıyor; bunun için sözcükleri her hatayı kolayca ele veren kalıplarla da tekrarlıyorlar.

Dört Vedadan en eskisi olan Rigveda, kabaca MÖ 1500 ile 1000 arasında oluşturuldu ve yazıya geçirilmeden önce yüzyıllar boyunca ezberden aktarıldı; öğrenciler bugün de onu öğretmenlerinden dinleyerek öğreniyor. Okuyucular metni baştan sona okumanın yanı sıra, patha denen sabit düzenlerle yeniden dizerek de ezberler. Basit bir düzende sözcükler ikişer ikişer, bir öncekiyle örtüşerek okunur (1-2, 2-3, 3-4); en karmaşığı olan ghanada ise sözcükler ileri geri giden uzun, iç içe döngülerle tekrarlanır. Her dizilişin öbürleriyle birebir tutması gerektiğinden, birindeki tek bir sürçme hemen fark edilir. UNESCO, Vedik okuma geleneğini 2003'te İnsanlığın Sözlü ve Somut Olmayan Mirasının Başyapıtlarından biri ilan etti.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Vedic chant
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