Shloka or śloka ( sa, श्लोक , from the root ,
/ref>[Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927).] in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is "any verse or stanza; a proverb, saying";[ but in particular it refers to the 32-line verse, derived from the ]Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
''anuṣṭubh ( sa, अनुष्टुभ्, ) is a meter and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences.
By origin, an anuṣṭubh stanza is a quatrain of four lines. Each line, called a ''pāda' ...
'' metre, used in the ''Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...
'' and many other works of classical Sanskrit literature.
In its usual form it consists of four ''pādas'' or quarter-verses, of 8 syllables each, or (according to an alternative analysis) of two half-verses of 16 syllables each.[ The metre is similar to the ]Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
''anuṣṭubh ( sa, अनुष्टुभ्, ) is a meter and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences.
By origin, an anuṣṭubh stanza is a quatrain of four lines. Each line, called a ''pāda' ...
'' metre, but with stricter rules.
The ''śloka'' is the basis for Indian epic poetry, and may be considered the Indian verse form ''par excellence'', occurring as it does far more frequently than any other metre in classical Sanskrit poetry
Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all literature in the Sanskrit language. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as s ...
.[ The ''śloka'' is the verse-form generally used in the '']Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'', the ''Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
'', the Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
, Smriti
''Smriti'' ( sa, स्मृति, IAST: '), literally "that which is remembered" are a body of Hindu texts usually attributed to an author, traditionally written down, in contrast to Śrutis (the Vedic literature) considered authorless, that ...
s, and scientific treatises of Hinduism such as ''Sushruta Samhita
The ''Sushruta Samhita'' (सुश्रुतसंहिता, IAST: ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'', literally "Suśruta's Compendium") is an ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and surgery, and one of the most important such treatises on this subj ...
'' and ''Charaka Samhita
The ''Charaka Samhita'' (, “Compendium of ''Charaka''”) is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine). Along with the ''Sushruta Samhita'', it is one of the two foundational texts of this field that have survived from ancien ...
''. The ''Mahabharata'', for example, features many verse metres in its chapters, but 95% of the stanzas are ''ślokas'' of the ''anuṣṭubh'' type, and most of the rest are ''tristubh
''Trishtubh'' ( sa, त्रिष्टुभ्, , IAST: ) is a Vedic metre of 44 syllables (four padas of eleven syllables each), or any hymn composed in this metre. It is the most prevalent metre of the Rigveda, accounting for roughly 40% o ...
''s.
The ''anuṣṭubh ( sa, अनुष्टुभ्, ) is a meter and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences.
By origin, an anuṣṭubh stanza is a quatrain of four lines. Each line, called a ''pāda' ...
'' is found in Vedic texts, but its presence is minor, and ''triṣṭubh
''Trishtubh'' ( sa, त्रिष्टुभ्, , IAST: ) is a Vedic metre of 44 syllables (four padas of eleven syllables each), or any hymn composed in this metre. It is the most prevalent metre of the Rigveda, accounting for roughly 40% of ...
'' and ''gayatri
Gayatri (Sanskrit: गायत्री, IAST:Gāyatrī) is the personified form of the Gayatri Mantra, a popular hymn from Vedic texts. She is also known as Savitri, and bears the epithet of ''Vedamata'' (mother of the Vedas). Gayatri is ofte ...
'' metres dominate in the ''Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...
''. A dominating presence of ''ślokas'' in a text is a marker that the text is likely post-Vedic.
The traditional view is that this form of verse was involuntarily composed by Vālmīki, the author of the ''Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
'', in grief on seeing a hunter shoot down one of two birds in love (see Valmiki
Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ) is celebrated as the wikt:harbinger, harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic ''Ramayana'', dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on ...
). On seeing the sorrow (shoka) of the widowed bird, he was reminded of the sorrow Sita felt on being separated from Shri Rama and began composing the Ramayana in shlokas. For this he is called the Adikavi (first poet.)
Metrical pattern
Each 16-syllable hemistich
A hemistich (; via Latin from Greek , from "half" and "verse") is a half-line of verse, followed and preceded by a caesura, that makes up a single overall prosodic or verse unit. In Latin and Greek poetry, the hemistich is generally confined to ...
(half-verse),
of two 8-syllable '' pādas'', can take either a ''pathyā'' ("normal") form or one of several ''vipulā'' ("extended") forms. The form of the second foot
The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...
of the first '' pāda'' (II.) limits the possible patterns the first foot (I.) may assume.
The scheme below, given by Macdonell, shows the form of the ''śloka'' in the classical period of Sanskrit literature (4th–11th centuries CE):
In poems of the intermediate period, such as the Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...
, a fourth ''vipulā'' is found. This occurs 28 times in the Bhagavad Gita, that is, as often as the third ''vipulā''. When this ''vipulā'' is used, there is a word-break (caesura) after the fourth syllable:
:, u u u –, , – u – u , ,
Two rules that always apply are:Michael Hahn
George Michael Decker Hahn (November 24, 1830 – March 15, 1886), was an attorney, politician, publisher and planter in New Orleans, Louisiana. He served twice in Congress during two widely separated periods, elected first as a Unionist Democr ...
"A brief introduction into the Indian metrical system for the use of students"
:1. In both ''pādas'', in syllables 2–3, u u is not allowed.
:2. In the second ''pāda'', in syllables 2–4, – u – is not allowed
The ''pathyā'' and ''vipulā'' half-verses are arranged in the table above in order of frequency of occurrence. Out of 2579 half-verses taken from Kalidasa, Bharavi
Bharavi () was a 6th century Indian poet known for his epic poem '' Kirātārjunīya'', one of the six ''mahakavyas'' in classical Sanskrit.
Time and place
As with most Sanskrit poets, very few concrete details are available about Bharavi's life ...
, Magha, and Bilhana
Kaviraj, Kavi Bilhana was an 11th-century Kashmiri Pandits, Kashmiri poet. He is known for his love poem, the ''Caurapañcāśikā''.
According to legend, Bilhana fell in love with the daughter of King Madanabhirama, Princess Yaminipurnatilaka, ...
, each of the four admissible forms of ''śloka'' in this order claims the following share: 2289, 116, 89, 85; that is, 89% of the half-verses have the regular ''pathyā'' form.
The various ''vipulā''s, in the order above, are known to scholars writing in English as the first, second, third and fourth ''vipulā'', or the paeanic, choriambic, molossic, and trochaic
In English poetic metre and modern linguistics, a trochee () is a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. But in Latin and Ancient Greek poetic metre, a trochee is a heavy syllable followed by a light one (al ...
''vipulā'' respectively. In Sanskrit writers, they are referred to as the ''na-'', ''bha-'', ''ma-'', and ''ra-vipulā''. A fifth ''vipulā'', known as the minor Ionic, in which the first ''pāda'' ends , u u – x , , is sometimes found in the ''Mahābhārata'', although rarely.
Macdonell's chart given above is in fact too restrictive with regard the first four syllables in a ''vipulā'' verse. For example, the first quarter verse of the ''Rāmayaṇa'' (critical edition) contains a ''na-vipulā'' and scans ⏑ – – – ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ – (''tapaḥsvādhyāyanirataṃ''). Other examples are easy to find among classical poets, e.g., ''Rāmacarita'' 1.76 ''manyur dehāvadhir ayaṃ'' – – – – ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ –. In the ma-vipulā, a caesura is not obligatory after the fifth syllable, e.g., ''Śiśupālavadha'' 2.1a ''yiyakṣamāṇenāhūtaḥ'' ⏑ – ⏑ – – – – –.
Noteworthy is the avoidance of an iambic cadence in the first ''pāda''. By comparison, syllables 5–8 of any ''pāda'' in the old Vedic ''anuṣṭubh ( sa, अनुष्टुभ्, ) is a meter and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences.
By origin, an anuṣṭubh stanza is a quatrain of four lines. Each line, called a ''pāda' ...
'' metre typically had the iambic ending u – u x (where "x" represents an ''anceps
In languages with quantitative poetic metres, such as Ancient Greek, Latin, Arabic, Sanskrit, and classical Persian, an anceps (plural ''ancipitia'' or ''(syllabae) ancipites'') is a position in a metrical pattern which can be filled by either a lo ...
'' syllable).
Statistical studies examining the frequency of the ''vipulā''s and the patterns in the earlier part of the ''pāda'' have been carried out to try to establish the preferences of various authors for different metrical patterns. It is believed that this may help to establish relative dates for the poems, and to identify interpolated passages.
Examples
A typical ' is the following, which opens the Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...
:
:
:
:
:
:, – – – – , u – – – ,
:, u u – – , u – u – , ,
:, – u – – , u – – u ,
:, u u – u , u – u u , ,
:"( Dhṛtaraṣṭra said:) In the place of righteousness, at Kurukṣetra,
:gathered together and desiring battle,
:my sons and the sons of Pandu,
:what did they do, Sanjaya?"
From the period of high classical Sanskrit literature comes this benediction, which opens Bāṇabhaṭṭa
Bāṇabhaṭṭa ( sa, बाणभट्ट) was a 7th-century Sanskrit prose writer and poet of India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'' in the court of the emperor Harsha, who reigned c. 606–647 CE in north India, first from Sthanvishvara (T ...
's biographical poem '' Harṣacaritam'' (7th century CE):
:
:
:, u – – u , u – – u , – u – u , u – u – , ,
:, – – u u , u – – u , – – – – , u – u – , ,
:"Praise be to Śambhu, beautified by the chowrie moon touching his lofty head;
:like a foundation pillar of a city that is the universe."
When a ''śloka'' is recited, performers sometimes leave a pause after each ''pāda'', at other times only after the second ''pāda''. (See External links.)
Difference between shloka and mantra
A Shloka has to be composed in a specific metre (chhanda), with a specific number of lines with a specific number of words per line, each word could be a mantra. For example, viṣṇu sahastranāma is in anuṣṭup chhanda (two lines of four words each).
A mantra, on the other hand, is prefixed by omkara (primordial sound) and suffixed by the essential nama (name) and the salutary word nama (salutation) between the prefix and the suffix. No metre is prescribed. The lyrics in any Vārnic or matric metres are shlokas, but stanzas from Vedic hymns are not shloka, despite it being a common mistake to think this.
See also
* Sanskrit prosody
Sanskrit prosody or Chandas refers to one of the six Vedangas, or limbs of Vedic studies.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Chandas" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, , page 140 It is the study of poetic metr ...
* Subhashita
* Vedic metre
Vedic metre refers to the metre (poetry), poetic metre in the Vedic literature. The study of Vedic metre, along with post-Vedic metre, is part of Chandas, one of the six Vedanga disciplines.
Overview
In addition to these seven, there are fourte ...
* Anustubh
References
Bibliography
*
*Brockington, John (1998)
''The Sanskrit Epics''
Brill.
*
*
*
*D'Avella, Victor B. (2019
"Notes on the Sanskrit ''Śloka''"
(Introduction to Alaṅkāraśāstra Sommersemester 2019.)
*Keith, A. Berriedale (1928)
''A History of Sanskrit Literature''
(Oxford University Press).
*
PDF
* Murthy, G. S. S. (2003)
"Characterizing Classical Anuṣṭup: A Study in Sanskrit Prosody"
''Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute'', Vol. 84 (2003), pp. 101–115. (On JSTOR)
* Sharma, Arvind (2000)
"Of ''Śūdras'', ''Sūtas'', and ''Ślokas'': Why is the ''Mahābhārata'' preeminently in the ''Anuṣṭubh'' Metre?"
''Indo-Iranian Journal'', Vol. 43, No. 3 (2000), pp. 225–278.
*{{cite book, author=Wilson, Horace Hayman, title=An introduction to the grammar of the Sanskrit language, url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontogr00wilsuoft, year=1841, publisher=Madden
External links
*Michael Hahn
George Michael Decker Hahn (November 24, 1830 – March 15, 1886), was an attorney, politician, publisher and planter in New Orleans, Louisiana. He served twice in Congress during two widely separated periods, elected first as a Unionist Democr ...
"A brief introduction into the Indian metrical system for the use of students"
(pdf)
Introduction to Sanskrit prosody
LearnSanskrit.Org
Chanting of opening of Bhagavad Gita
(starts at 0:46).
3 ślokas read by Dr R. Ganesh
(including the one from ''Harṣacaritam'')
Sanskrit words and phrases
Genres of poetry
Hindu texts
Poetic rhythm
Indian poetics