The Puspasutra : A Pratisakhya of the Samaveda (2 Vols-Set)
Contents: Preface. Introduction. I. Prapathaka I : 1. Dasaratra parvan. 2. Samvatsara parvan. 3. Ekaha parvan. II. Prapathaka II : 1. Ahina parvan. 2. Satra parvan. 3. Prayascitta parvan – Ksudra Sutra. 4. Rahasyagana – Dasaratra parvan. 5. Samvatsara parvan. 6. Ekaha parvan. 7. Ahina parvan. 8. Satra parvan. 9. Prayascitta parvan. 10. Ksudra parvan. III. Prapathaka III : 1. Aibhavah – Prakrtibhavah. IV. Prapathaka IV : 1. Prakrtibhavah. V. Prapathaka V : 1. Vrddhavrddhe. 2. Gatagatam. 3. Ucca-nice – Udgithadhikarah. 4. Ucca-nice samgrahah. VI. Prapathaka VI : 1. Padavatsandhivadgane. 2. Atvam. 3. Arbhava-anarbhavau. 4. Praslesavislesau. 5. Sankarsavikarsau. VII. Prapathaka VII : 1. Sankarsavikarsau. 2. Lopalopau. 3. Aubhavah-Anaubhavah. 4. Atiharah. 5. Yavayorvyavadhanam. 6. Abhavah. VIII. Prapathaka VIII : 1. Abhavah. 2. Vikarah. IX. Prapathaka IX : 1. Vikalpah. 2. Bhavah. X. Prapathaka X : 1. Bhavah-Bhavasesah. 2. Prastavah. Bibliography. Appendices.
"The Puspasutra is one of the major ancillary works in the Saman technical literature attributed to the Kauthuma and Ranayaniya schools. It deals with the Saman melodies and their structure. The term Puspa, in the present context, means the syllabic expansion that takes place when a melody is formed out of a verse. The Puspasutra was written long after the Saman melodies had been developed.
The Puspasutra contains ten Prapathaka. The first two of them give the names of Samans occurring in the Uttaragana (i.e. Uhagana and Uhyagana) in the order in which they occur. The statement of topics given in the 8 Prapathaka of the Puspasutra would indicate the demarcation. The Puspasutra has two recensions namely northern and southern. The statement of contents in the 8 Prapathaka agrees exactly with the topics dealt with the Prapathakas III to VIII of South Indian recension. This is understood to be the original part of the Puspasutra which is genuine.
The Northern recension of Puspasutra assigns this text twice to Govila. The Southern recension assigns it once to Vararuci.
The Puspasutra names the metres of the chants in some places. This leads to the impression that the ganas were chanted in some other metres.
It is difficult to fix the exact date of the Puspasutra. There were additions to the original nucleus, like the Vikalpas (alternatives), remaining bhavas, the detailed treatment of prastava and the first two Prapathakas. Its present form of having ten Prapathakas is a great help to the scholars working in the field of the study of Samavedic chants. The explanation of the technical terms provided in this edition could also be of great help to the readers.
The present edition prepared by Prof. G.H. Tarlekar who is a living authority on the science of Sama-chanting, contains the accurate text in Sanskrit with English exposition bringing out all the intricate points discussed in the Sutras in a highly technical language. This important text on the Sama-chanting has been exposited in English in this edition for the first time." (jacket)
