Rhetoric and Prosody (Alamkara o Chanda): Figures and Metres
Rhetoric and Prosody (Alaṃkāra o Chanda) asks you to identify figures of speech and metres, then justify the identification. A label without reasoning earns little; show the components and the word that signals the figure.
Figures
- Upamā: explicit comparison with iva, yathā, or sadṛśa; needs upameya, upamāna, sādhāraṇa dharma.
- Rūpaka: identification without a comparison word (“face-moon”).
- Utprekṣā: imagined as if real (“as if the moon had fallen”).
- Atiśayokti: exaggeration that breaks ordinary measure.
- Anuprāsa: repetition of consonants; Yamaka: repeated syllable blocks with different meaning.
Metres
Count syllables per pāda. Anuṣṭubh has 8 syllables per quarter; Indravajrā and Upendravajrā have 11; Vasantatilakā has 14; Mandākrāntā has 17; Śārdūlavikrīḍita has 19. At HS level, a correct syllable count plus the name is usually enough, but check the caesura if asked.
Worked example
“मुखं तस्याः शशाङ्क इव राजते।” Reasoning: मुखम् is upameya, शशाङ्कः is upamāna, राजते is the common property, and इव is the comparator. Therefore upamā, not rūpaka. For metre, the line is not being judged here; if asked, count each pāda separately.
Traps
Do not identify alaṃkāra from a single word; do not call anuprāsa a metre; do not confuse indravajrā with upendravajrā without checking the first gaṇa; do not count vowels rather than syllables.