Poetics, Metre and Rhetorical Devices
What is tested
Poetics questions cover rasa, alamkara (figures) and Prakrit metre, especially the gatha. You should identify a figure from a quoted line, explain how it works, and scan a gatha by morae, not syllables.
Core rules
- The gatha has four padas with mora counts 12, 18, 12, 15; the second and fourth padas are longer. Each mora is a short syllable; a long syllable counts two.
- Other Prakrit metres include the arya, skandhaka and various muktaka forms.
- Standard figures: upama (simile), rupaka (metaphor), utpreksha (as-if imagining), atishayokti (hyperbole), svabhavokti (natural description), anuprasa (alliteration), yamaka (repetition with changed sense).
- Rasa is the emotional flavour: shringara (love), viraha (separation), karuna (compassion), vira (heroism), hasya (comedy).
- In Maharashtri lyric the figure usually serves the rasa; naming the figure without linking it to emotion is incomplete.
Worked example
Line: “Her face is a moon that has stolen the night's beauty.” Identify rupaka (metaphor), not upama, because there is no “like” (vi/iva). Reasoning: the face is directly identified with the moon; the second clause adds atishayokti. The rasa is shringara. In scanning a gatha, count “moon” as one long syllable (2 morae), not as one syllable.
Traps
Do not count syllables and call it morae. Do not label every comparison a simile: check for iva/vi. Do not name a rasa that the verbs and imagery do not support.