The Performance Practice of the Rig-Veda: A Musical Expression of Excited Speech

The Veda, as is well known, is the religious lore of ancient India, crystallized during ten centuries, from about the fifteenth to the fifth century B.C.E., and compiled in four collections: The Rig-Veda (collections of hymns), the Sama-Veda (hymns with notated melodies), the Yajur-Veda (verses and prose formulae, with or without meaning used during sacrificial rites) and the Atharva-Veda (magical formulae and spells). For the participants, the actual performance is of supreme importance and not to be separated from the text. The musician, observing the Vedic cantillation especially that of the Rig-Veda assigns it a special place among the various kinds of musical expression of the world, and it has been the object of much research. However, although much has been published in this field on a descriptive level, with some attempts at a deeper analysis, little has been done to reveal the basic principles which govern the Vedic cantillation. In this study I shall try to summarize the characteristics of the Rig-Veda cantillation and discuss certain problems which arise from these characteristics as well as the implications for more general musical issues. I will also present an analysis of one specimen of chant practice (Rig-Veda 1.12) performed by the Nambudiris, a Brahmin sect in the state of Kerala in Southwest India, which may perhaps serve as a starting point for a more comprehensive study.