The Pravad-Bhaargava-Saaman, which was practiced in preceding days and weeks (see: Vedic Movie 002B: Studying SV 1.2.2.1.3 Candram ... Pravad-Bhaargavam), is here chanted in the Atyagnistoma (AAg) Soma-samsthaa (Barsi, 19-24 February 2001). Within the morphology of this complex ritual, the overall structure of which can be schematically rendered as (P(Q(RS)T)U), the immediate context of the Pravad-Bhaargava-Saaman is the Praayaniiya-Isti (Episode p15 in part P), which has its counterpart in the Udayaniiya-Isti (part U). (The Saaman chanted in the Udayaniiya-Isti and corresponding to the Pravad-Bhaargava-Saaman is the Udvad-Bhaargava-Saaman.) The Aty-Agnistoma (AAg) Soma-samsthaa is entirely parallel to the Agnistoma Soma-samsthaa (Ag), but it contains a few elements of the Sodasin Soma-samsthaa, notably the sixteenth round of Soma-offering with accompanying recitation and chant. The Aty-Agnistoma contains therefore thirteen Soma rounds: the twelve Soma-rounds of the Agnistoma plus the one which is no. sixteen in the Sodasi. The Vedic school followed by the team of Saamavedins in this performance of the Aty-Agnistoma is the rare Raanaayaniiya. The main executor in this chant of secondary (preparatory) importance in the ritual as a whole is the Udgaatar’s assistant, the Prastotar, Pdt. Mukund R. Joshi.

The matrix mantras (yoni-mantras) on which the Pravadbhaargava Saaman is sung are SV 1.6.2.2.4 = 2.4.2.7.1, 2.4.2.7.2, 2.4.2.7.1.3 (557=1152, 1153, 1154), parallel to RV 9.86.16-18 except for the beginning of 1153 and the last word of 1154.
Louis Renou (1961 p. 33) translated the first of the mentioned RV mantras and the first line of the second as follows:
"Il s'est avancé au rendez-vous d'Indra, le suc-de-soma; l'ami n'enfreint pas l'accord-verbal de l'ami.
Comme un garçon (court) avec les jeunes-filles, le soma coule avec (les eaux) dans le vase, par le chemin au cent cours.
Elles se sont avancées, vos pensées-poétiques, harmonieuses, laudatrices, célébrées dans les sessions-rituelles."
["Forward he stepped to his appointment with Indra, the soma juice; the friend does not transgress against the oral agreement with his friend.
As a young man (rushes) together with damsels, the soma flows together with (the waters) in the vessel, by the way of a hundred courses.
Forward they have come, your poetic thoughts, harmonious, laudatory, celebrated in ritual sessions."]

The chanting of this Saaman is interwoven with the main action of offering cooked rice (caru) into the fire for the specific deity of this Isti, Aditi. To be noted is the cooperation between the Saamavedins and the Adhvaryu (Pdt. Sunil C. Limaye), the Hotar (Pdt. Raghunatha N. Kale) and the Agniidh (Pdt. Santosh S. Ghotanakar).

A modern representation of Parasurama, one of the ten Avataras of Visnu, was placed behind the eastern door of the Praaciinavamsa. Since this is not prescribed in any of the Srauta-suutras and is not directly related to the Praayaniiya-Isti or to the chanting of the Saaman, I have blurred this representation except at the beginning and end of the clip.

Intended public: students in Indology, Indian Studies, Ritual Studies, History of Music, Ethnomusicology.
With thanks to Shri Narayana G. Kale and to the then staff and students (Feb. 2001) of the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram, Barsi.

Filmed by Jan E.M. Houben, February 2001.
Analysis and presentation by Jan E.M. Houben, Paris.

Powerpoint of presentation at Third International Vedic Workshop in Leiden, 2002

Vaidikas in Bucharest 2010 - edited Paris 2022
Pdt. Chaitanya N. Kale and Pdt. Mukund R. Joshi (of the Rāṇāyanīya school of the Sāmaveda) give a presentation:
*The mnemotechniques and traditional recitation of the Vedic Samhitas (RV and SV)* Bucharest, 22 September 2010.
A. Recitation of some well-known Rgvedic mantras (their precise identification is left as an exercise to students of the Vedas) -- at 00:30;
B. RV 1.164.50 in samhita, pada and krama patha -- at 04:25;
C. Samavedic mantras and chant -- 07:25 intro; 08:25 recitation of Purvarcika, SV 1.1-10; 10:25 chant on basis of SV 1.139: together with text plus its musical notation (ed. Satyavrata Samasrami, vol. I, Calcutta 1874).

"The Nihnava meaningless? a new perspective and analysis of the structure and meaning of Vedic ritual through videorecording"
presented at: Visual Asian Studies: Vedic Ritual in India & Nepal, ICAS 11, Leiden, 19 July 2019
panel in honour of two pioneers in filming Vedic ritual, J.A.B. van Buitenen (1928-1979) and Frits Staal (1930-2012). I thank Dr Paul Folmer for assisting in producing this vimeo-version of the presentation.