Prakrit Poetry: Prescribed Verses, Metre and Figures of Speech
What this domain tests
The poetry section tests recall of prescribed verses, scansion in Prakrit metres, and identification of alaṅkāras.
Metre
- Āryā dominates Māhārāṣṭrī verse: each half-line has 30 mātrās, divided 12 + 18; the sixth gaṇa of the second and fourth pādas is a single short syllable.
- Gāthā is the Prakrit name for this family; the verses of the Gāthāsaptaśatī are āryā.
- Sanskrit-derived metres also occur: vasantatilakā (14 syllables per pāda), śārdūlavikrīḍita (19), mālinī (15), upajāti.
- For āryā count mātrās, not syllables: a short vowel = 1; a long vowel, or a short vowel before a cluster, = 2.
Figures of speech
- upamā - simile, marked by va/iva: so rāyā sīho va
- rūpaka - metaphor, no marker: so rāyā sīho
- utprekṣā - ‘as if’ fancy; atiśayokti - hyperbole
- anuprāsa - alliteration; yamaka - repeated syllable-groups; śleṣa - double meaning
- svabhāvokti - natural description; arthāntaranyāsa - a general maxim clinching a particular statement
Worked example
so rāyā sīho va jhayai ‘that king shines like a lion’. va marks comparison, so the figure is upamā, not rūpaka; delete va and the same words become rūpaka.
Traps
Scanning āryā by syllable count; labelling every comparison rūpaka; ignoring how Prakrit elision shortens a line and alters the mātrā count.