Sanskrit prosody
Aspect of Vedic studies / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sanskrit prosody or Chandas refers to one of the six Vedangas, or limbs of Vedic studies.[1] It is the study of poetic metres and verse in Sanskrit.[1] This field of study was central to the composition of the Vedas, the scriptural canons of Hinduism; in fact, so central that some later Hindu and Buddhist texts refer to the Vedas as Chandas.[1][2]
The Chandas, as developed by the Vedic schools, were organized around seven major metres, each with its own rhythm, movements and aesthetics. Sanskrit metres include those based on a fixed number of syllables per verse, and those based on fixed number of morae per verse.[3]
Extant ancient manuals on Chandas include Pingala's Chandah Sutra, while an example of a medieval Sanskrit prosody manual is Kedara Bhatta's Vrittaratnakara.[4][note 1] The most exhaustive compilations of Sanskrit prosody describe over 600 metres.[7] This is a substantially larger repertoire than in any other metrical tradition.[8]