Articles on Prosody Home Page

from
A Vedic Grammar for Students

by
Arthur Anthony Macdonell

[Ed: I have added in the metrical markings wherever they were lacking in Macdonell's text, reformatted part of the text, and added some notes to clarify matters. All additions are placed in square brackets]

Appendix II: Vedic Metre

1. The main principle governing Vedic metre ⁰¹ (the source of all later Indian versification) is measurement by number of syllables. ⁰² The metrical unit here is not the foot in the sense of Greek prosody, but the foot (pàda) or quarter ⁰³ in the sense of the verse or line which is a constituent of the stanza. Such verses consist of eight, eleven, twelve, or (much less commonly) five syllables. The verse is further more or less regulated by a quantitative rhythm (unaffected by the musical accent) in which short and long syllables alternate. Nearly all metres have a general iambic rhythm inasmuch as they show a preference for the even syllables (second, fourth, and so on) in a verse being long rather than short. In every metre the rhythm of the latter part of the verse (the last four or five syllables), called the cadence, is more rigidly regulated than that of the earlier part. Verses of eleven and twelve syllables are characterized not only by their cadence, but by a cæsura after the fourth or the fifth syllable. While verses of five and eight syllables have no such metrical pause.

Verses combine to form a stanza or Ôc, the unit of the hymn, which generally consists of not less than three or more than fifteen such units. The stanzas of common occurrence in the RV. ⁰⁴ range, by increments of four syllables, from twenty syllables (4 x 5) to forty-eight (4 x12) syllables in length. ⁰⁵ A stanza may consist of a combination of metrically identical or of metrically different verses; and either two or three stanzas may further be combined to form a strophe.

a. The following general rules of prosody are to be noted.

1. The end of a verse regularly coincides with the end of a word ⁰⁶ because each verse in a stanza is independent of the rest in structure.

2. The quantity of the first and last syllables of a verse is indifferent.

3. A vowel becomes long by position if followed by two consonants. One or both of these consonants may belong to the following word. The palatal aspirate ch and the cerebral aspirate ëh (óh) count as double consonants.

4. One vowel is shortened before another; ⁰⁷ e and o are also pronounced Õ and Ö before Ï.

5. The semivowels y and v, both within a word and in Sandhi, have often to be pronounced as i and u; e. g. siµma for syµma; s£ar for svár; v¡ uùµþ for vy uùµþ; vidátheùu aÿján for vidátheùv aÿján.

6. Contracted vowels (especially ã and å) must often be restored; e. g. ca agnáye for càgnáye; v¡ ¡ndraþ for vêndraþ; ávatu åtáye for ávatåtáye; µ indra for éndra.

7. Initial a when dropped after e and o must nearly always be restored.

8. The long vowel of the genetive p1ural ending àm, and of such words as dµsa, è½ra, and e (as jyá-iùñha for jyéùñha) or ai (as á-ichas for áichas) must often be pronounced as equivalent to two short syllables.

9. The spelling of a few words regularly misrepresents their metrical value; thus pàvaká must always be pronounced as pavàká, mÔëaya as m®ëaya, and suvàná nearly always as svàná.

I. Simple Stanzas.

2. The Vedic hymns consist chiefly of simple stanzas, that is, of such as are formed of verses which are all metrically identical. Different stanzas are formed by combining three, four, five, or six identical verses. The following is an account of the various types of verse and of the different simple stanzas formed by them.

A. Verse of eight syllables. This is a dimeter verse consisting of two equal members of four syllables each, the opening and the cadence. In the opening the first and third syllable are indifferent, while the second and fourth are preferably long. When the second is short, the third is almost invariably long. In the cadence the rhythm is typically iambic [ÛÜ], the first and third syllables being almost always short, while the second is usually long (though it is not infrequently short also). Thus the prevailing scheme of the whole verse is ÅÜÅÜÐÛÜÛÅÐ.

a. Even after every admissible vowel restoration a good many verses of this type exhibit the anomaly (which cannot be removed without doing violence to the text) of having one syllable too few; e. g.

There are also here a very few instances of one or even two syllables too many; e. g.

and

3. a. The Gàyatrã ⁰⁹ stanza consists of three ¹⁰ octosyllabic verses; ¹¹ e.g.

a. A comparatively rare but sufficiently definite variety of Gàyatrã ¹² differs from the normal type by having a decided trochaic rhythm in the cadence, ¹³ while the iambic rhythm of the opening is more pronounced than usual; e. g.

b. The Anuùñubh ¹⁵ stanza consists of four octosyllabic verses, divided into two hemistichs; e. g.

a. In the latest hymns of the RV. there begins a tendency to differentiate the first from the second verse of an Anuùñubh hemistich by making the end of the former trochaic [ÜÛ], while the cadence of the latter becomes more strictly iambic [ÛÜ]. Although in these hymns the iambic cadence of the first verse is still the most frequent (25 per cent.) of all varieties, it is already very nearly equalled by the next commonest (23 per cent.), which is identical with the normal and characteristic cadence of the first verse in the epic Anuùñubh ¹⁶ (è1oka). The scheme of the whole hemistich according to this innovation ¹⁷ then is: ÅÜÅÜÐÛÜÜÅÐÐÅÜÅÜÐÛÜÛÅÐÐ e.g.

c. The Païkti stanza consists of five octosyllabic verses ¹⁸ divided into two hemistichs of two and of three verses respectively. In origin it seems to be an extension of the Anuùñubh by the addition of a fifth verse. This is indicated by the fact that in hymns consisting entirely of Païktis the fifth verse of every stanza is (except in i. 81) regularly a refrain (e. g. in i. 80). The following is an example of a Païkti stanza:Þ

d. In about fifty stanzas of the RV. the number of octosyllabic verses is increased to six and in about twenty others to seven, generally by adding a refrain of two verses to an Anuùñubh (e.g. viii. 47) or to a Païkti (e.g. x. 133, 1-3). The former is called Mahàpaïkti (48 [syllables]), the latter øakvarã (56 [syllables]).

4. B. Verses of eleven syllables differ from those of eight in consisting of three members (the opening, the break, and the cadence). They also contrast with the latter in two other respects: their cadence is trochaic ¹⁹ (ÜÛÜÅ) and they have a cæsura, which follows either the fourth ²⁰ or the fifth syllable. The rhythm of the syllables preceding the cæsura is prevailingly iambic, being ÅÜÅÜ ²¹ or ÅÜÅÜÅ. ²² The rhythm of the break between the cæsura and the cadence is regularly ÛÛÜ or ÛÛ ²³ Thus the scheme of the whole normal verse of eleven syllables is:

a. Apart from corruptions or only seeming irregularities (removable by restoration of vowels) several verses of this type have one syllable too many or too few; ²⁴ e.g.

Occasionally two syllables are wanting after the cæsura or the verse is too long by a trochee added at the end; e. g.

5. The Triùñubh stanza, the commonest in the RV., ²⁷ consists of four verses of eleven syllables ²⁸ divided into two hemistichs. The following are hemistichs of each type:

a. A few Triùñubh stanzas of only two verses (dvipadà) occur (e.g. vii. 17). Much commoner are those of three verses (viràj), the first two of which (as in the Gàyatrã stanza) are treated in the Saühità text as a hemistich; the whole of some hymns is composed in this three-line metre (e. g. iii. 25). Fairly frequent are also Triùñubh stanzas of five verses ²⁹ divided into two hemistichs of two and three verses respectively. They are always of isolated occurrence, appearing generally at the end of (Triùñubh) hymns, but never forming an entire hymn.

6. C. The verse of twelve syllables is probably an extension ³⁰ of the Triùñubh verse by one syllable which gives the trochaic [ÜÛ] cadence of the latter an iambic [ÛÜ] character. ³¹ The rhythm of the last five syllables is therefore ÜÛÜÛÅ. The added syllable being the only point of difference, the scheme of the whole verse is:

a. Several examples occur of this type of verse (like the Triùñubh) having one, and occasionally two, syllables too many or too few; e.g.

7. The Jagatã stanza, the third in order of frequency in the RV., consists of four verses of twelve syllables divided into two hemistichs. The following hemistich gives an example of each of the two types of verse:

a. There is an eleven syllable variety of the Jagatã verse which is sufficiently definite in type to form entire stanzas in two hymns of the RV. (x. 77, 78). It has a cæsura after both the fifth and the seventh syllable, its scheme being ÅÜÅÜÛ,ÜÜ,ÛÜÛÅÐ. The following hemistich is an example:

8. D. The verse of five syllables resembles the last five syllables of the Triùñubh verse in rhythm, its commonest form being ÛÜÛÜÅ, and the one next to it in frequency ÜÜÛÜÅ Ð ³³

The Dvipadà Viràj stanza ³⁴ consists of four such verses divided into two hemistichs; ³⁵ e.g.

a. Owing to the identity of the cadence a Dvipadà hemistich ³⁶ not infrequently interchanges in the same stanza with a Triùñubh verse; ³⁷ e.g.

b. The mixture of Dvipadà hemistichs with Triùñubh verses led to an entire hymn (iv. 10) being composed in a peculiar metre consisting of three pentasyllabic verses ³⁹ followed by a Triùñubh; e.g.

II. Mixed Stanzas.

9. The only different verses normally used in combination to form a stanza are the Gàyatrã and the Jagatã. The principal metres thus formed are the following:

a. Stanzas of 28 syllables consisting of three verses, the first two of which are treated as a hemistich:

I. Uùõih: 8 8 12; e.g.

2. Purauùõiþ: 12 8 8; e.g.

3. Kakubh: 8 12 8; e.g.

b. Stanzas of 36 syllables consisting of four verses divided into two hemistichs:

BÔhatã 8 8 12 8; e. g.

c. Stanzas of 40 syllables consisting of four verses divided into two hemistichs: SatobÔhatã 12 8 12 8; e. g.

10. There are besides two much longer mixed stanzas of seven verses, ⁴² each of which is split up into three divisions of three, two, and two verses respectively in the Saühità text.

a. Stanzas of 60 syllables consisting of six Gàyatrã verses and one Jagatã:

Atièakvarã 8 8 8, 8 8, 12 8; ⁴³ e. g.

b. Stanzas of 68 syllables consisting of four Gàyatrã and three Jagatã verses:

Atyaùñi ⁴⁵ 12 12 8, 8 8, 12 8; e. g.

a. Besides the above mixed metres various other but isolated combinations of Gàyatrã and Jagatã verses occur in the RV., chiefly in single hymns. There are stanzas of this kind containing 20 syllables (12 8); ⁴⁷ 32 syllables (12 8, 12); ⁴⁸ 40 syllables (12 12, 8 8); ⁴⁹ 44 syllables (12 12, 12 8) ⁵⁰ 52 syllables (12 12, 12 8 8). ⁵¹

b. 1. Triùñubh verses are quite often interspersed in Jagatã stanzas, but never in such a way as to form a fixed type of stanza or to make it doubtful whether a hymn is a Jagatã one. ⁵² This practice probably arose from the interchange of entire Triùñubh and Jagatã stanzas in the same hymn bringing about a similar mixture within a single stanza.

2. An occasional licence is the combination of a Triùñubh with a Gàyatrã verse in the same stanza. This combination appears as a regular mixed stanza (11 8, 8 8) in one entire hymn (RV. x. 22). ⁵³

3. The combination of a Triùñubh verse with a Dvipadà Yiràj hemistich has already been noted (8 a).

III. Strophic Stanzas.

11. Two or three stanzas are often found strophically combined in the RV., forming couplets or triplets.

A. Three simple stanzas (called tÔca) in the same metre are often thus connected. Gàyatrã triplets are the commonest; less usual are Uùõiþ, BÔhatã, or Païkti triplets; while Triùñubh triplets are rare. A hymn consisting of several triplets often concludes with an additional stanza in a different metre.

a. It is a typical practice to conclude a hymn composed in one metre with a stanza in another. A Triùñubh stanza at the end of a Jagatã hymn is the commonest; a final Anuùñubh stanza in Gàyatrã hymns is much less usual; but all the commoner metres are to some extent thus employed except the Gàyatrã, which is never used in this way.

B. Two mixed stanzas in different metres are often combined, the RV. containing about 250 such strophes. This doubly mixed strophic metre, called Pragàtha, is of two main types:

1. The Kàkubha Pràgatha is much the less common kind of strophe, occurring only slightly more than fifty times in the RV. It is formed by the combination of a Kakubh with a SatobÔhatã stanza: 8 12, 8 + 12 8, 12 8; e. g.

2. The Bàrhata Pragàtha is a common strophe, occurring nearly two hundred times in the RV. It is formed by the combination of a BÔhatã with a SatobÔhatã stanza: 8 8, 12 8 + 12 8,12 8; e.g.

a. Of these two types there are many variations occurring in individual hymns, chiefly by the addition of one (8), two (12 8), three (12 8 8), or once (vii. 96, 1-3) even four verses (12 12 8 8).