Scanning a Gaha: One Doubtful Syllable
A prescribed Prakrit verse is printed in four padas. The editor's note says the metre is Gaha (Arya), but a water stain has made one syllable in the second pada doubtful: it could be short or long. The first pada scans as 12 morae, the third as 12, and the fourth as 15; the second pada must therefore carry 18 morae. The verse contains the phrase kamalaṃ va nayaṇaṃ ('an eye like a lotus') and repeats the syllable ja in the third pada. You must decide whether the doubtful syllable should be scanned long or short, confirm the metre, and identify the figure of speech. The exam answer must show the mora count, not merely name the metre.
1. Show how you would count morae for the doubtful pada and decide the length of the uncertain syllable.
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In Arya/Gaha the second pada has 18 morae. Count each short syllable as 1 and each long syllable as 2; a conjunct or a long vowel makes a syllable long. If the doubtful syllable is scanned short, the pada totals 17; if long, 18. Since the first pada has 12, the third 12 and the fourth 15, the metre requires 18 in the second. Therefore the doubtful syllable must be long. If the total had been 19 with the long option, the short option would be correct; the decision is made by the fixed mora count, not by taste.
2. Confirm the metre from the 12-18-12-15 pattern.
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The pattern 12-18-12-15 is the signature of the Arya (called Gaha in Prakrit). Other four-pada metres do not combine these mora counts: a samavṛtta has equal padas, and an ardhasamavṛtta alternates in a different pattern. The first and third padas of 12 morae, the second of 18 and the fourth of 15 fit the Gaha exactly. The doubtful syllable must therefore be lengthened to preserve the second pada's 18. Naming the metre is not enough; the exam answer must show the count.
3. Identify the figure in kamalaṃ va nayaṇaṃ and explain why it is upama rather than rupaka.
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The phrase means 'an eye like a lotus'. The particle va (= iva, 'like') makes the comparison explicit, so the figure is upama (simile). In rupaka (metaphor) the two things would be identified without a comparative particle, e.g. 'the lotus-eye'. Here the eye is not called a lotus; it is said to be like one. The repetition of ja in the third pada is a separate sound figure (anuprasa or yamaka-like repetition), but it does not alter the identification of the comparison.