पाठ्यपुस्तकम् - पद्यखण्डः (Prescribed Poetry)
The poetry section examines prescribed verses through व्याख्या, भावार्थ, अलङ्कार, छन्द and the कवि's सन्देश. Questions usually ask you to explain a quoted verse with context, identify an अलङ्कार, name the metre, or state the theme.
The verse-explanation sequence
- सन्दर्भ - कवि, पाठ, and the situation of the verse.
- पदच्छेद - separate the sandhi-bound words.
- अन्वय - rearrange into prose order; verse word-order is deliberately inverted.
- शब्दार्थ - gloss the difficult words in Sanskrit.
- भावार्थ - explain the sense, not a literal word-for-word rendering.
- अलङ्कार / छन्द / सन्देश - name them and give the reason.
अलङ्कार to identify reliably
- उपमा - comparison with इव, यथा, सदृश; state उपमेय, उपमान, वाचक.
- रूपक - the उपमेय is described as the उपमान itself, with no comparing word.
- अनुप्रास - repetition of a consonant sound.
- यमक - the same word repeated with a different meaning.
छन्द
Count syllables per quarter: अनुष्टुप् 8+8+8+8, इन्द्रवज्रा 11×4, वसन्ततिलका 14×4. State the count as your reason.
Worked example
Verse: विद्या ददाति विनयं विनयाद् याति पात्रताम्। Reasoning: पदच्छेद - विद्या / ददाति / विनयम् / विनयात् / याति / पात्रताम्. अन्वय is already natural. भावार्थ - learning gives humility, humility brings worthiness. अलङ्कार - no explicit comparison, so do not claim उपमा; the sequence is a statement of cause and effect. सन्देश - education's first fruit is humility, not pride.
Traps
- Naming an अलङ्कार without giving the constituent parts.
- Writing Hindi भावार्थ when Sanskrit is asked for.
- Counting metres loosely instead of syllable by syllable.