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Shukla and KrishNa YV

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tatachar • September 9, 2000 


Dear Bhagavathaas,

The info on the KrishnA and Shukla YV  shared by many bhagavathaas 
has been interesting and illuminating. I just have few comments on 
Sri Sudarshanan's posting. His narration as to the origin of
name Taittiriya (Shishyas in the form of Taittiri birds absorbed the
KYV vomitted by yagnavalkya) is interesting, because, the only 
available version of KYV is Taittiriya branch (shaaka). Thus, it 
would appear that the Taittiri word is applicable to the whole
body of KYV and not just to the small portion called
Taittiriya Upanishad. 

Just as the other Vedas, KYV is also divided into four parts
as indicated below. I have also indicated the length of the  texts
as measured by length of audio tapes that cover them.
In standard Reader's digest size Kannada texts with swaras,
the KYV is covered in roughly 2000 pages.

1. Samhita (Taittiriya Samhita)- TS (14 tapes , 78 minutes each)
Starts with Ishetvorjetva....

2. BrahmaNa (Taittiriya BrahmaNa)-TB (10 tapes, 78 minutes each)
Ends with Ahwamedha Prashna

3. Aranyaka (Taittiriya Aranyaka)-TA (5 tapes, 78 minutes each)
This contains Purusha Suktam etc.,. This tape 
also contains Taittiriya Upanishad and Maha Narayana Upanishad.

4. Upanishads (Three Upanishads: Taittiriya, Katha and Maitreye)
Of these, only Taittirya Upanishad is chanted like Vedic mantra, while  the
other Upanishads are recited like  Bhagavadgita. In fact, Katha Upanishad
in parts can easily be mistaken for Gita verses). As noted above Taittiriya
Upanishad is covered under Taittiriya Aranyaka in teh audio tapes.

In comparison to this Shukla YajurVeda is just 9 tapes- including
Ishavaasya and Brihadaaranyaka Upanishads.


I just had the pleasure of completely listening to the 29 tapes of KYV as
produced by Sri Krishnan of Veda Prasara Samiti. Sriman Sadagopan
has previously enlightened us about the work undertaken by Mr. Krishnan
for preservation of all the Vedas in the traditional Ghoshti style chanting
by Shrotreeyas. I have previously listened to the entire Rig, Shukla YV,
AtharvaNa and Sama Vedas produced by Mr. Krishnan. KYV just became 
available (again thanks to Sriman Sadagopan who informed us about it
on this net), for which I was eagerly awaiting (as I belong to  KYV), I 
promtly
got it in July 2000, and have been enjoying it ever since.

I have been told that most North Indians are Shukla Yajurvedis,
as most north Indians including Maharashtra follow SYV.
The swara markings are quite different for SYV as compared to KYV,
even for those portions, where the text is identical to KYV.

After listening to the entire Vedas (Rig, Sama, KYV, SYV and Atharva)
in my opinion, Atharva comes closest to KYV in the chanting style.
I liked KYV chanting style the most.

If anyone is interested in getting these tapes, you may
contact Mr. Krishnan at : dvt@hotmail.com

Daasan,

K. Sreekrishna Tatachar


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