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The Art of Vedic Chanting: A Handbook for Students and Teachers

by Howard Crosthwaite

222 pages; Spiral coil; catalogue #06-3027; ISBN 1-4251-1268-4; US$29.00, C$33.35, EUR22.61, £14.99

A handbook for teachers and students of Vedic Chant, providing a comprehensive guide to the rules of Vedic Chant and the texts of well-known chants.

About the Book

In 2003 UNESCO declared the tradition of Vedic Chanting as a national heritage and an outstanding example of cultural expression. There are groups established and individuals practising this art, not just in India, but throughout the world. In the UK and the USA there has been a great surge in interest in this Indian tradition of reciting the Veda as an aid to meditation and also as a therapeutic practice using the vibrational effects of the ancient Sanskrit language. This book is an introduction to the art for beginners and also a handbook for those already practising. It contains all the theory of vedic chanting and a comprehensive list of chants with the full texts in Romanised Sanskrit including chant notations.

About the Author

Howard Crosthwaite read English at Durham University and went on to train for the Anglican priesthood at St Stephen's House, Oxford in 1959. It was there that he developed an interest in Anglican plainsong chant, an interest which continued during his ministry.

He was introduced to Yoga in 1984 by his teacher, Pat, who went on to become his wife. He has always claimed that the best way to learn Yoga is to marry your teacher! He qualified as a teacher himself gaining the British Wheel of Yoga teaching diploma in 1994. In 1992 he attended a week's training with TKV Desikachar and met Paul Harvey for the first time. Paul became his personal teacher and he went on to do the four year Yoga Practitioner course with Viniyoga Britian (now the Association for Yoga Studies), qualifying in 1998.

Howard's first taste of Vedic chanting came with a weekend spent with Muz Murray on one of his annual visits to Britain. It reminded him very much of the plainsong chant which he loved and he soon became addicted. For him it was a major part of the Practitioner course and when in 2000, at the request of TKV Desikachar, Paul set up Vedavalli, the school for the art of Vedic Chanting, he was delighted to accept Paul's invitation to join the teaching faculty.

Vedavalli follows the Vedic chant teachings taught by Desikachar's teacher and father, T.Krishnamacharya. It aims to support and honour the essence of Vedic Chanting by transmitting it in the West. Vedavalli is now a national study and training organisation supporting students and trained chant teachers, who offer Lessons, Seminars, Workshops and Courses throughout the country.

Howard teaches a monthly chant group in his home in Doncaster, runs Vedavalli study courses and Retreats and has a growing number of individual students. He is a member of the Krishnamacharya Healing & Yoga Foundation (KHYF) and pays regular visits to the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, South India, where he studies with Radha Sundararajan, the Director of Vedavani (the KYM's Vedic Chant department).