Ghana pāṭha

For the most experienced: text (Pdf, mantras in dēvanāgarī and RCCS) and audio files (Mp3, moderate speed), tutorials (Tuto), instrumental help (Instru, with pitch, speed and instrument selection), to learn and chant in krama, jaṭā or ghana pāṭha. To know more about these pāṭha, please click here.

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Introduction to some pāṭha

There are eleven modes of chanting (pāṭha) of the Vedic mantras. Some of these modes use a specific arrangement of words that has enabled the Vedas to be transmitted perfectly until today and their original purity to be preserved. We are going to discuss five of them here.

Saṁhitā pāṭha and pada pāṭha

Vedic mantras are sentences composed of words in a set order:

Saṁhitā pāṭha is a continuous chanting of the mantra, in the natural order of the words, from the first to the last. For a sentence of five words, the chanting is therefore:

Pada pāṭha is a chanting of each separate word, thus giving five distinct portions:

In saṁhitā pāṭha and pada pāṭha, the words are chanted in their natural order and only once (prakṛti pāṭha). The other nine modes of chanting modify the order of words or create repetitions (vikṛti pāṭha). Three of these are presented below: krama pāṭha, jaṭā pāṭha and ghana pāṭha.

Krama, jaṭā and ghana pāṭha

Pattern and final portion

Krama pāṭha is a chanting in the pattern ‘1 2’: the first word followed by the second forms the first portion; the second word followed by the third forms the second portion; and so on. Then the final portion is ‘5 iti 5’:

Jaṭā pāṭha is a chanting in groups of 2 words, according to the pattern ‘12 21 12’. The final portion is identical to that of the krama pāṭha:

Ghana pāṭha is a chanting in groups of 3 words, according to the pattern ‘12 21 123 321 123’. A portion of jaṭā pāṭha type using the last 2 words, comes just before the final portion (identical to that of the krama pāṭha):

Compound words

Words can be compound (ex: gaṇapati = gaṇa-pati) or not (ex: havāmahē). This difference does not appear clearly in the saṁhitā pātha, whereas it is evident in the other ones. Let us assume that word 3 is compound, 3 = 3a-3b:

- the pada pāṭha then includes a descriptive portion of word 3

- in the other ones (krama, jaṭā, ghana), this descriptive portion is placed after the last portion containing word 3:

Note: If the last word is compound, the descriptive portion plays the role of the final portion in the krama, jaṭā and ghana pāṭha, and the |  5 iti 5  || portion disappears. With 3 and 5 which are compound, pada pāṭha is

and krama pāṭha becomes

Sandhi and pāṭha

Pada pāṭha gives each word in its original grammatical form and with its own svaras (pitches). This form and these svaras differ from those of the saṁhitā pāṭha, because of the sandhi (grammar and pitch) rules that apply between each word of the mantra in this pāṭha.

These sandhi rules also apply in krama, jaṭā or ghana pāṭha:

Mahāmṛtyuñjaya mantra – ghana pāṭha

- saṁhitā pāṭha:

- pada pāṭha:

- compound words: tri-ambakam (1); su-gandhim (3); puṣhṭi-vardhanam;(4).

- portions:

- sandhi rules applied in the different portions:

- after applying the svara sandhi rules:

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