The “Four Parts” of Speech in the Ṛgveda and Subsequent Tradition

The “four quarters” or “four parts” of speech appear in the Ṛgveda I.164.45. This hymn, also known as the “riddle-hymn” is notorious for its obscurity. In the context of the hymn, speech described as divided into four parts or standing on four feet refers to the mythological representation of speech as a cow that satisfies all desires. However, in the more recent tradition, the “four parts” of speech were interpreted differently. The Śatapathabrāhmaṇa and the Nirukta identify them with languages of different creatures or with different types of sounds. The Grammarians interpreted “four quarters” as four morphological parts of speech, i.e. the noun, the verb, the preposition and the particle. The identification of the “four parts” with the levels of speech in Bhartṛhari’s philosophy occurs for the first time in this tradition as late as in the works of Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa (18th century). However, four centuries earlier, the same identification was made by Sāyaṇa. Following some tantric views, Sāyaṇa identified the levels of speech with cakras and described the unfolding of speech from the supreme (parā) to the articulated (vaikharī) as the successive rise of prāṇa in the human body.