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Wikipedia states that a metrically restored version of Gayatri Mantra would have "váreṇiyam" instead of "vareṇyaṃ" i.e,
tát savitúr váreṇiyam
bhárgo devásya dhīmahi
dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt
Has it ever been chanted with "váreṇiyam" instead of "vareṇyaṃ" anytime in ancient rituals?
The Gayatri Mantra that is present in the Veda Samhitas has Varenyam in it and not Vareniyam.
The Gayatri mantra of Viswamitra Gatinah is not in the Gayatri metre but in a slightly variant metre called the Nichruth Gaytari which is made of 23 syllables and not of 24 syllables.
It is found in Rig Veda 3.62.10, Taittiriya Samhita 1.5.6.12 of Krishna Yajur Veda and in Vajasaneyi Samhita 3.35 of the Shukla Yajurveda. And in all these versions varenyam is only present.
tat savitur varenyam
All throughout North India varenyam is chanted. Probably they pronounce it as vareniyam in the South only.
The same Mantra is present in the Yajur Veda ( Vajasaneyi Samhita 36.3, Krishna Yajur Veda Taiitiriya Samhita 4.1.11.1 ) as well, but there the additional words are present viz
bhur bhuvah svah
thus changing the chandah (metre) to Ushnik from Nichruth Gayatri. Ushnik has 27 syllables.
I don't know how vareniyum came into being though. Probably something to do with Veda Shakhas ( ? ). For example, the persons belonging to Krishna Yajur Veda indeed replace the word Svah by Suvaha in the Mantra.
Rig Veda 3.62.10 - Mantra 10 of Sukta 62 of Mandala 3 of Rig Veda Samhita.
Taittiriya Samhita 1.5.6.2 - Verse 2 in Anuvaka 6 in Prapathaka 5 of Kanda 1 of that Samhita.
Vajasaneyi Samhita 3.35 - Mantra 35 of Adhyaya 3 of that Samhita.
EDIT
Another confusion which must be cleared is that Gayatri metre have to have 24 syllables. This is completely wrong. Gayatri is a name of a family of metres.
The number of syllables can vary from 26 to 19. The Gayatri metre has as many as 10 variants.. The Nichruth Gayatri is one such variant.
Apart from differences in the number of syllables, more variants occur due to the padas. Some variants of Gayatri have 5 padas.
Some of them have formations such as :
5|5|5|5|6, 5|5|5|4|6, 6|7|11, 7|7|7|, 7|6|6 etc and all of them belong to the Gayatri family of metre.
The Gayatri mantra that appears in RV 3.62.10 is having 23 syllables. Even in the classical reference, Katyayana's Anukramanika, Katyayana calls the 23-syllabled metre by the name Gayatri only.
Similarly, all the other major Vedic meters are having more than one variants. For example, Anushtup is having 11 variants. Brihati is having 11 variants and the Trishtup chandaha has as many as 14 variants.
His holiness, late Shankaracharya Swamiji of Sringeri Peetam, Sri Abhinava Vidhya Teertha Swamiji clarifies this point in his book "Sandhyavandhanam". Gayathri has only 23 letters. The word Varenyam should be considered as Vareniyam then it becomes 24, but it should not be spelled as vareniyam during japa.
It should always be spelled as Varenyam. He clarifies his point by quoting from the vedas. A must read book for who chant Gayathri.
It is chanted in both ways. As far as I know, it appears in the Samhita as "Varenyam" Rig Veda 3.62.10.
But to fit in the meter of 24 letters (gAyatri chhandas) it is chanted as vareniyam by many. However, Vareniyam or Varenyam do not alter its meaning. It is just done for the purpose of maintaining the chhandas.
North Indians mostly chant it as Varenyam. Some people say that it comes under Nichrud gAyatri chhandas.
South Indians prefer to chant as Vareniyam. Still meaning and potency is not altered.
Even the vyahriti is chanted as "suvah:" by some south Indians and as "svah:" by north Indians.
