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What metre is this Sanskrit verse?

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Respected ProfVK,

The metre is Druta-Vilambit. Some old poems in Marathi are in the same metre

e.g.

 

mokaLaa karuna kaNTha tedhavaa

aaThavoona mani jaanakeedhavaa

te raDe tasaa bharata hi raDe

zovaree nayana hoti koraDe (Dasharath Vilaap)

 

The vishwaroopadarshan verses in chapter XI are in Upajati metre which is a

mixture of Indravajra and Upendravajra,

In Indravajra the first syllable is long, as in

vasamsi jeerNani yathaa vihaaya

In upendravajra the first syllable is short, as in

navaani gRihNaati naroparaaNi

The rest of the syllables follow a DA Da DA DA Da Da DA Da DA DA pattern.

 

Humble praNaams to all advaitins

Ravi Shivde

 

 

-

"V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk

"advaita - L" <advaita-l; "advaitinlist"

<advaitin>; "ist" <>

Friday, October 21, 2005 10:39 AM

What metre is this Sanskrit verse?

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advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk>

wrote:

>

> What metre is the following familiar Sanskrit shloka?:

>

> yatra yatra raghunAtha-kIrtanaM

> tatra tatra kRRitamastakAnjaliM /

> bAshhpa-vAri-paripUrNa-locanaM

> mArutiM namata rAkshhasAntakaM //

>

> An allied question:

>

> What are the other metres with 11 syllables for each

> quarter? I know 'Indra-vajra' each quarter of which goes

> like:

 

Namaste,

 

All meters with 11 syllables fall into the triShTup class.

 

There seems to be no online text on sanskrit meters

(prosody). Apte's Dictionary has an Appendix on this, and it gives 9

types of triShTup meter (11 syllables) -

 

indravajrA

upendravajrA

upajAti

dodhaka

bhramaravilasitA

rathoddhatA

vAtormI

shAlinI

svAgatA

 

The above appears to be an example of shAlinI.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder

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Thank you Sundar-ji!

 

Sometime ago, when i was surfing through Kamakoti Org WEB SITE i had

read about 'Chandas' and here i reproduce that aricle from Hindu

Dharma

 

.............

 

"Indravajra", "Upendravajra", "Bhujangavijrmbhita", "Sragdhara" are

some of the metres in devotional and other poetical works. Some of

them are intricate and only highly gifted people are capable of

composing them.

 

As mentioned earlier, the foot of a stanza with eight syllables

Anustubh. With nine syllables it is "Brhati" and with

ten "Pankti". "Tristubh" has eleven syllables and "Jagati" twelve. We

have a 26-syllable metre ("Bhujangavijrambhita") which belongs to the

category of "Utkrti". Beyond this is "Dandaka" of which there are

several types. The metre in which Apparasvamigal's Tiru-t-tandagam is

composed is related to this metre.

 

Some metres have beautiful names. In poems composed in a certain

metre the flow of words reminds of a playful tiger lunging forward;

the metre is appropriately called "Sardulavikridita". "Sardula" means

tiger; "vikridita" is playfulness. (This metre, belonging to the

category of "Atidhriti", has 19 syllables). Each pada in it is

divided into 12 and 7 syllables. Adi Sankara's Sivanandalahari is

partly in this metre (a number of verses from the 28th stanza

onwards). The initial verses of the part called "Stuti-satakam" of

the Muka-Pancasati (which is a hymn to Kamaksi) are in this metre.

The concluding one hundred verses, "Mandasmita-satakam", are entirely

in this metre. "Bhujangaprayata" is the name of another metre which

suggests a snake(bhujanga) gliding along. Our Acharya's Subrahmanya-

bhujangam is in this metre. It belongs to the Jagati type with 12

syllables a foot, divided into six and six as in

 

Ma-yu-ra-dhi-ru-dham

 

Ma-ha-va-kya-gu-dham

 

Our Achrya's Saundaryalahari is in the Sikharini metre. It has 17

syllables in each pada. (It belongs to the category of Atyasti) The

17 syllables are divided into two parts of six and 11.

The "Padaravinda-satakam" of the Muka-Pancasati is in this metre. The

metre called "Sragdhara" suggests a flow of words breaking through

the floodgates of poetry. It has 21 syllables (belonging to

the "Prakrti" class) and each pada has three sets of seven syllables.

Our Acarya's hymns to Siva and Visnu (describing them from foot to

head and from head to foot - padadikesanta and kesadi-padanta) are in

this metre.

 

I mentioned "Indravajra" first. It belongs to the Tristubh category

with 11 syllables in each pada. Another 11 syllables metre

is "Upendravajra". A mixture of both is "Upajati": Kalidasa's

Kumarasambhavam is in this metre.

 

All these metres belong to the post-Vedic period and are employed in

poetical works as well as in hymns to various

deities. "Gayatri", "Usnik", "Anustubh", "Pankti", "Tristubh"

and "Jagati" are Vedic metres.

 

"Gayatri" is a maha-mantra, the king of mantras. A mantra is usually

named after the deity it invokes. "Siva-Pancaksari", "Narayana-

Astaksari", "Rama-Trayodasi": in each of these the name of the deity

as well as the number of syllables in the mantra are combined. The

deity for Gayatri is Savita. Gayatri is the name of the metre also.

The metre too, one should infer from this, has divine power expressed

through the sound and tone of a mantra.

 

Gayatri, unlike most other mantras and slokas, has only three feet.

Each foot has eight syllables and altogether there are 24 syllables.

Because it has only three padas or feet it is called "Tripada-

Gayatri". There are other Gayatris also. The first Vedic

mantra, "Agnimile", is in the Gayatri metre.

 

(The 24-syllable Gayatri metre used in poetry and non-Vedic hymns has

four padas, each of six syllables. Usnik has also four padas, each of

seven syllables).

 

So far I have spoken about metres based on the number of syllables,

that is without worrying about whether a syllable is long or short.

In prosody the long and short syllables are called "guru" and "laghu"

respectively. Poems that make no distinction between "short"

and "long" are called "vrttas": those based on mantras are

called "jati". In the latter type, a short syllable is one mantra and

a long syllable is two mantras. Instead of the number of syllables

what matters here is the number of matras.

 

The "Arya-satakam" of Muka-Pancasati is in the Arya metre. Amba, as

Arya, belongs to the most plane; so it is proper that the verse used

in singing her praises should also belong to an equally high order.

That is why they are in the Arya metre, which is based on matras and

not on the number of syllables. if you go by the number of syllables

you are likely to be misled into thinking that the metre differs from

verse to verse.

 

courtesy :

 

http://www.kamakoti,org/hindudharma/part1/chap5.htm

 

Enjoy the 'wisdom' in this article!

 

"Chandas is the means by which we ensure that the Vedic mantra is

preserved in its original form, it being impossible to add one letter

to it or take away another. The very purpose of the Vedas is the

raising up of the Self. Must we then permit a single sound to be

added to it or be taken away"

 

"The Vedapurusa stands on Chandas. " Chandah pado Vedasya": the Vedic

mantras are supported by Chandas."

 

 

(When i was studying in High School, Samskritam was my second

Language , English and Hindi being the other two. I was doing pretty

well in Samskritam till i lost touch with beautiful Deva bhasha (

Ggod's language) when i migrated 27 years ago to U.S.A. but , now i

want to revive this 'interest' again so i can understand and

appreciate Sanskrit literature. Can one teach an old dog new tricks?

SMILE:-))

 

Professor-ji, thank you for quoting that beautiful verse :

 

Yatra yatra raghunatha kirtanam;

Tatra tatra kritha masthakanjalim;

Bhaspavaari paripurna lochanam;

Maarutim namata raakshasanthakam

 

"We bow to Maruti, Sri Hanuman, who stands with his palms folded

above his forehead, with a torrent of tears flowing down his eyes

wherever the Names of Lord Rama are sung".

 

Jai Sita Ram!

 

Jai Vir-bhakta Hanuman!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin, "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh>

wrote:

>

>> Namaste,

>

> All meters with 11 syllables fall into the triShTup class.

>

> There seems to be no online text on sanskrit meters

> (prosody). Apte's Dictionary has an Appendix on this, and it gives

9

> types of triShTup meter (11 syllables) -

>

>

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  • 3 weeks later...

advaitin, Ravi Shivde <ravishivde@d...> wrote:

>

> Respected ProfVK,

> The metre is Druta-Vilambit. Some old poems in Marathi are in the

same metre

>

 

Namaste

 

Thank you Ravi Shivde and many others who responded to my question

both on the list and off the list.

 

Our universal reference expert Shri Sunder-ji has just unearthed a

most wonderful book online, on Sanskrit prosody. I have not seen any

such book in English ever! It has been written by Prof. Charles

Philip Brown, Professor of Telugu in the University of London, in

1869. The link to the book is:

http://print.google.com/print?

hl=en&id=bVn6YeJaCaUC&dq=sanskrit+prosody&pg=PR3&printsec=2&lpg=PR3

 

Enjoy the book! And thanks to Sunderji!

 

PraNAms to all lovers of Sanskrit poetry.

profvk

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