The singing of songs excites the mind,
But if the body is not fed all these are vain and hollow.
All Bhāts recite their verses in a high-pitched sing-song tone, which renders it very difficult for their hearers to grasp the sense unless they know it already. The Vedas and all other sacred verses are spoken in this manner, perhaps as a mark of respect and to distinguish them from ordinary speech. The method has some resemblance to intoning. Women use the same tone when mourning for the dead.
[1] Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Brāhman.
[2] Art. Bhāt.
[3] Malcolm, Central India, ii. p. 132.
[4] Rājasthān, ii. p. 406.
[5] Malcolm, ii. p. 135.
[6] Rājasthān, ii. pp. 133, 134.