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20-579: In its usual form it consists of four pādas or quarter-verses, of eight syllables each, or (according to an alternative analysis) of two half-verses of 16 syllables each. The metre is similar to the Vedic anuṣṭubh metre, but with stricter rules. The śloka is the basis for Indian epic poetry , and may be considered the Indian verse form par excellence , occurring as it does far more frequently than any other metre in classical Sanskrit poetry . The śloka

40-497: A pada amounts to 12 or 15 fingers' breadth, or 1/2 or 1/3 or 3/7 of a Prakrama . In Sanskrit grammar , a pada is any inflected word (noun or verb). In Buddhism , pāda is the term for a Buddha footprint . Gautama Buddha ’s footprints symbolized his presence, and his image and iconography developed several centuries after he had died. There are also several landmarks venerated as "footprints" ( pāda , also pādamudrā ) of Hindu deities . For example, Si Pada on Adam's Peak

60-407: A śloka is recited, performers sometimes leave a pause after each pāda , at other times only after the second pāda . (See External links.) A Shloka has to be composed in a specific metre (chhanda), with a specific number of lines with a specific number of words per line, each word could be a mantra. For example, viṣṇu sahastranāma is in anuṣṭup chhanda (two lines of four words each). A mantra, on

80-400: A wide range of applications, including any one of four parts (as it were one foot of a quadruped), or any sub-division more generally, e.g. a chapter of a book (originally a section of a book divided in four parts). In Sanskrit metre , pāda is the term for a quarter of a stanza. Thus in the shloka it is any of the eight-syllable sections of the 32-syllable stanza. As a measure of length,

100-451: Is a quatrain of four lines. Each line, called a pāda (lit. "foot"), has eight syllables. Arnold distinguishes three varieties of anuṣṭubh in the Vedic corpus: an early free form, with very few restrictions except a general iambic (u – u x) tendency in the cadence ( vṛtta ) of each of the four pāda s; e.g. Next came a mildly trochaic development in the opening of each pāda ; and finally

120-669: Is a rock formation in Sri Lanka venerated as the footprint of Buddha in Buddhist tradition, the footprint of Shiva in Hinduism , and the footprint of Adam in Muslim tradition. Anu%E1%B9%A3%E1%B9%ADubh Anuṣṭubh ( Sanskrit : अनुष्टुभ् , IPA: [ɐnuˈʂʈubʱ] ) is a metre and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences. By origin, an anuṣṭubh stanza

140-512: Is minor, and triṣṭubh and gāyatrī metres dominate in the Rigveda . A dominating presence of ślokas in a text is a marker that the text is likely post-Vedic. The traditional view is that this form of verse was involuntarily composed by Vālmīki , the author of the Rāmāyaṇa , in grief on seeing a hunter shoot down one of two birds in love. On seeing the sorrow (śoka) of the widowed bird, he

160-594: Is the verse-form generally used in the Mahabharata , the Ramayana , the Puranas , Smritis , and scientific treatises of Hinduism such as Sushruta Samhita and Charaka Samhita . The Mahabharata , for example, features many verse metres in its chapters, but 95% of the stanzas are ślokas of the anuṣṭubh type, and most of the rest are tristubh s. The anuṣṭubh is found in Vedic texts, but its presence

180-415: Is used, there is a word-break (caesura) after the fourth syllable: Two rules that always apply are: The pathyā and vipulā half-verses are arranged in the table above in order of frequency of occurrence. Out of 2579 half-verses taken from Kalidasa , Bharavi , Magha , and Bilhana , each of the four admissible forms of śloka in this order claims the following share: 2289, 116, 89, 85; that is, 89% of

200-422: The Indian verse par excellence , occurring, as it does, far more frequently than any other metre in classical Sanskrit poetry. By the 5th century CE, in the poetry of Kalidasa , the śloka had the restricted form shown in the table above. Each half-verse of 16 syllables can take either a pathyā ("normal") form or one of several vipulā ("extended") forms. The pathyā and vipulā half-verses are arranged in

220-509: The development of the "epic anuṣṭubh" (mostly in the Atharvaveda ) prefiguring the classical śloka form. Although in these hymns the iambic cadence of the first verse is still the most frequent (25%) of all varieties, it is already very nearly equalled (23%) by the normal and characteristic cadence of the first verse in the epic anuṣṭhubh ( śloka ), where the iambic cadence in the first verse has entirely disappeared. It has been shown that

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240-586: The first pāda ends | u u – x |, is sometimes found in the Mahābhārata , although rarely. Macdonell's chart given above is in fact too restrictive with regard the first four syllables in a vipulā verse. For example, the first quarter verse of the Rāmayaṇa (critical edition) contains a na-vipulā and scans ⏑ – – – ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ – ( tapaḥsvādhyāyanirataṃ ). Other examples are easy to find among classical poets, e.g., Rāmacarita 1.76 manyur dehāvadhir ayaṃ – – – – ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ –. In

260-537: The first foot (I.) may assume. The scheme below, given by Macdonell, shows his understanding of the form of the śloka in the classical period of Sanskrit literature (4th–11th centuries CE): [REDACTED] In poems of the intermediate period, such as the Bhagavad Gita , a fourth vipulā is found. This occurs 28 times in the Bhagavad Gita, that is, as often as the third vipulā . When this vipulā

280-550: The frequency of the vipulā s and the patterns in the earlier part of the pāda have been carried out to try to establish the preferences of various authors for different metrical patterns. It is believed that this may help to establish relative dates for the poems, and to identify interpolated passages. A typical śloka is the following, which opens the Bhagavad Gita : From the period of high classical Sanskrit literature comes this benediction, which opens Bāṇabhaṭṭa 's biographical poem Harṣacaritam (7th century CE): When

300-461: The half-verses have the regular pathyā form. The various vipulā s, in the order above, are known to scholars writing in English as the first, second, third and fourth vipulā , or the paeanic , choriambic , molossic , and trochaic vipulā respectively. In Sanskrit writers, they are referred to as the na- , bha- , ma- , and ra-vipulā . A fifth vipulā , known as the minor Ionic, in which

320-403: The ma-vipulā, a caesura is not obligatory after the fifth syllable, e.g., Śiśupālavadha 2.1a yiyakṣamāṇenāhūtaḥ ⏑ – ⏑ – – – – –. Noteworthy is the avoidance of an iambic cadence in the first pāda . By comparison, syllables 5–8 of any pāda in the old Vedic anuṣṭubh metre typically had the iambic ending u – u x (where "x" represents an anceps syllable). Statistical studies examining

340-611: The other hand, is prefixed by omkara (primordial sound) and suffixed by the essential nama (name) and the salutary word nama (salutation) between the prefix and the suffix. No metre is prescribed. The lyrics in any Vārnic or matric metres are shlokas, but stanzas from Vedic hymns are not shloka, despite it being a common mistake to think this. Pada (foot) Pāda is the Sanskrit term for "foot" (cognate to English foot , Latin pes , Greek pous ), with derived meanings "step, stride; footprint, trace; vestige, mark". The term has

360-511: The percentage of long (or heavy) syllables in 8-syllable lines in the Rigveda as a whole in each position is as follows: Thus the first half of the line tends to be iambic, while the second half is almost always iambic. In those lines where the 2nd syllable is short, the third syllable is almost always long. In classical Sanskrit the anuṣṭubh developed into its specific epic form known as śloka , as described above, which may be considered

380-459: The table above in order of frequency of occurrence. The most common is the pathyā . Out of 2579 half-verses taken from Kalidasa , Bharavi , Magha , and Bilhana , each of the four admissible forms of shloka in this order claims the following share: 2289, 116, 89, 85; that is, 89% of the half-verses have the regular pathyā form. In earlier epic, such as the Mahabharata , a fourth vipula

400-471: Was reminded of the sorrow Sītā felt on being separated from Shri Rama and began composing the Ramayana in shlokas. For this he is called the Ādikavi (first poet.) Each 16-syllable hemistich (half-verse), of two 8-syllable pādas , can take either a pathyā ("normal") form or one of several vipulā ("extended") forms. The form of the second foot of the first pāda (II.) limits the possible patterns

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