Sentience, Poems and Meters as Organisms http://www.alansondheim.org/sentience.jpg
From the Rigveda Brahmanas, Trans. from the Sanskrit by Arthur
Berriedale Keith, Reprint by Motilal Banarsidass from the Harvard Oriental Series, 1971 First edition 1920
From the Aitareya Brahmana, The Niskevalya Castra, Adhyaya II,
iii. 24 (xii 13): He recites the strophe; the strophe is the self; it he recites with a middle tone; verily thus he makes the self perfect. He recites the antistrophe; the antistrophe is the offspring; the antistrophe is to be recited in a louder tone; verily thus he makes his offspring better than himself. He recites the inserted verse; the inserted verse is the wife; the inserted verse must be recited in a lower tone as it were; in his house his wife is not likely to answer back, when one knowing thus recites the inserted verse in a lower tone. [...]
From the Aitareya Brahmana, The Vaicvadeva and the Agnimaruta,
Adhyaya III, iii. 28 (xiii.4) (diacritical marks eliminated): The other two metres said to the Gayatri: 'Our property, the syllables have come round with (you).' 'No,' replied the Gayatri, 'ours are they as they were found (by us).' They disputed before the gods; the gods said 'They are yours as they were found (by you).' 'Therefore even now in a question of property they say 'It is ours by right of finding.' Then the Gayatri was of eight syllables, the Tristubh of three, the Jagati of one. The eight-syllable Gayatri supported the morning pressing; the Tristubh with three syllables could not support the midday pressing; to her the Gayatri said 'Let me come; let there be a portion for me here also.' 'Be it so' replied the Tristubh, Do though unite me with these eight syllables.' 'Be it so' (she said); her she united; thus to the Gayatri at the midday belong the last two (verses) of the strophe of the Marutvatiya and the antistrophe. She, having become of eleven syllables, supported the midday pressing. The Jagati having one syllable could not support the third pressing; to her the Gayatri said 'Let me come; let there be a portion for me here also.' 'Be it so' replied the Jagati, 'Do thou unite me with these eleven syllables.' 'Be it so' (she said): her she united; thus to the Gayatri at the third pressing belong the last two verses of the strophe of the Vacvadeva and the antistrophe. Having become of twelve syllables she supported the third pressing. Then indeed the Gayatri became of eight syllables, the Tristubh of eleven syllables, and the Jagati of twelve syllables. With all the metres of equal strength and of similar quality he prospers who knows thus. That which was one became three; therefore they say 'It should be given to one who knows thus'; for being one it became three. ___ (There is a great deal of information on the Gayatri Mantra, beautiful and profound, online; what fascinates me within the section quoted (admittedly an older translation) is the concretization of meter and syllable, as organism and sentient, more than performative, but actual. Do we approach this in our music improvisations, speaking thus as we play? Does our poetry and poetics carry the memory of a truth always in the process of unveiling? Is there more than meets the senses and conscious and unconscious processes? Are we the same as we ever were?) ___ _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
