Academic literature on the topic 'Indo-Aryan poetry'

Abstract Phonetics and phonology are very interesting areas of Linguistics, and are interrelated. They are based on the human speech system, speech perception, native speakers’ intuition, and vocalic and consonantal systems of languages spoken in this world. There are more than six thousand languages spoken in the world. Every language has its own phonemic inventory, sound system, and phonological and phonetic rules that differ from other languages; most even have distinct orthographic systems. While languages spoken in developed countries are well-studied, those spoken in underdeveloped countries are not. There is a great need to examine them using a scientific approach. These under-studied languages need to be documented scientifically using advanced technological instruments to bring objective results, and linguistics itself provides the scientific basis for the study of a language. Most research studies to date have also been carried out with reference to old or existing written literature in poetry and drama. In the current era of research, scholars are looking for objective scientific approaches, e.g., experimental and instrumental studies that include acoustic research on the sound systems of less privileged languages spoken locally in developing countries. In this context, Sindhi is an example of this phenomenon, and un-researched with reference to syllable structure and the exponents of lexical stress patterns.

This paper emphasizes the role played by the sculptural tradition in the elaboration of religious narratives that today are mostly studied through texts. It aims to demonstrate that according to the documents we know, the legend of Kṛṣṇa has been built through one continuous dialogue between different media, namely texts and carvings, and different linguistic areas, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. Taking the motif of the butter theft as a basis, we stress the role played by the sculptural tradition and Tamil poetry, two elements less studied than others, at the foundation of a pan-Indian Kṛṣṇa-oriented heritage. We posit that the iconographic formula of the cowherds’ station as the significant background of the infancy of Kṛṣṇa led to the motif of the young god stealing butter in the texts, through the isolation of one significant element of the early sculpted images. The survey of the available documents leads to the conclusion that, in the southern part of the peninsula, patterns according to which stone carvings were done have been a source of inspiration in Tamil literature. Poets writing in Tamil authors knew texts transmitted in Sanskrit, Prākrit, and Pāli, and they certainly had listened to some others to which we have no access today. But we give reasons to assume that the authors of the said texts were also aware of the traditional ways of representing a child Kṛṣṇa in the visual domain. With these various traditions, poets of the Tamil country in the later stage of Tamil Caṅkam literature featured a character they may not have consciously created, as he was already existent in the visual tradition and nurtured by the importance of one landscape animated by cowherds in the legend of Kṛṣṇa.

Abstract This article explores the metrical patterns of Gītagovinda’s songs, to investigate what they reveal about their origin and inspiration, building on previous scholarly research into the vernacular nature of the songs. Seemingly abstruse, metre lies at the heart of the performative nature of the text, but is often overlooked in a quest for meaning. The article starts with the approach of Sanskrit commentators, focusing on Mahārāṇā Kumbhakarṇa of Mewar’s fifteenth-century Rasikapriyā, interrelating with his theoretical work on music, the Saṃgītarāja. This reveals the problem of the discrepancy between metrical theory, or śāstra, and praxis, or prayoga, problematising the metrical pundits’ focus on classification and static definitions at the expense of rhythmical processes of actual performance. The article proposes an alternative by analysing Gītagovinda’s songs instead through the lens of New Indo-Aryan (NIA) poetry, which significantly enhances appreciation of the poetic craft of the author. Finally, comparison with selected Gopīgītas, or ‘Songs of the Gopīs’, from the ninth-century classic scripture of Krishna devotion, Bhāgavata Purāṇa, reveals parallels in both metre and oral formulae. Reading Gopīgītas in conjunction with Gītagovinda’s songs opens up a new perspective, revealing a vernacular pulse underlying some of the best-known and best-loved Sanskrit literature.

This chapter discusses the prehistory of the Indo-Aryan peoples ancestral to those who composed the Ṛgveda. On the basis of shared linguistic and cultural evidence it defends the view that these peoples migrated into northwest South Asia, splitting off from the larger group of Indo-Iranians, a branch of Indo-European, who migrated south and east from the steppes. In particular it takes up the shared heritage of Old Indo-Aryan (Vedic) and Old Iranian (Avestan) language, literature, and religion, specifically comparing the poetry and ritual practices of the Ṛgveda with those found in Avestan, particularly the hymns, called Gāthās (songs), attributed to Zarathustra. It also examines the soma/haoma cult that dominated the ritual practice of both Vedic and Avestan elite populations.