Classical Sanskrit Meters—A Handout

§1. This is a course on the most popular meters used in classical Sanskrit. These meters were based on
and derived from the meters used in Vedic Sanskrit, but Vedic meters have peculiarities of their own,
and they will not concern us here.
§2. There are two types of classical Sanskrit meters, based on the counting unit:
o Syllabic meters (vṛtta), in which the number of syllables (akṣara or varṇa) is the counting unit;
o Moraic or quantitative meters (jāti), in which the number of morae (mātrā) is the counting
unit. By mora here we mean the duration of a sound.
Our primary goal here is to learn how to read and recite the most popular syllabic meters.
§3. Sanskrit versified compositions (padya) come in stanzas of four quarters (pāda) in two hemistichs
or half-verses. Conventionally we call them pādas a to d. Depending on how similar the four pādas in
the stanza are, the syllabic meters are classed in three groups:
o Samavṛtta, in which all four lines are the same. These are by far the most common.
o Ardhasamavṛtta, in which pāda a = pāda c, and pāda b = pāda d. Only a few of these are
common.
o Viṣamavṛtta, in which all four pādas have a different structure. These are very rare.
§4. The samavṛtta syllabic meters are further grouped by the number of syllables in every pāda, in
theory from 1 to 26. In practice, only nine groups are common:
o 8 syllables per pāda: anuṣṭubh or śloka;
o 11 syllables per pāda: triṣṭubh;
o 12 syllables per pāda: jagatī;
o 13 syllables per pāda: atijagatī;
o 14 syllables per pāda: śakvarī;
o 15 syllables per pāda: atiśakvarī;
o 17 syllables per pāda: atyaṣṭi;
o 19 syllables per pāda: atidhṛti;
o 21 syllables per pāda: prakṛti.
In practice, the names of the first three groups are more important and the group name will be
preferred over the name of the individual meter.
§5. The subtypes in each group of syllabic meters are determined by the structure or distribution of
syllables in a pāda. Syllables in Sanskrit are of two types:
o Heavy (guru): any syllable in which the vowel is long (dīrgha) or short (hrasva) but followed
by two or more consonants is a heavy syllable. Thus, mā is a heavy syllable (as in the word
mātra), but so is ma if followed by gna (as in the word magna). Also, a short vowel followed by
visarga (ḥ) or anusvara (ṁ) is long. Note two things:
✓ All diphthongs in Sanskrit (e, ai, o, au) are long;
✓ If you are more accustomed to roman transliteration than Devanāgarī, note that the
aspirated consonants (kh, gh, etc) are one consonant. Thus, su in sukha is not a heavy
syllable.
o Light (laghu): any syllable in which the vowel is short and is followed by a single consonant,
like in mama, tava, tathā etc.

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§6. Anuṣṭubh. This is the most popular Sanskrit meter, in which the majority of the epics, Purāṇas,
smṛtis, as well as some of the mahākāvyas are written. About 90% of the verses written in anuṣṭubh
follow the same pattern of distribution of light and heavy syllables. The verse is divided in two half-
verses, each consisting of 16 syllables, and each half-verse is divided into 4 quarters. If we take, for
instance, the first verse of the Bhagavad-gītā:

dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre
samavetā yuyutsavaḥ |
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva
kim akurvata sañjaya ||

the first two lines form our half-verse: dharmakṣetre kurukṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ. We will divide
this 16 syllable verse into four quarters:

dharmakṣetre | kurukṣetre | samavetā | yuyutsavaḥ |

If we mark long syllables with , short with , and optionally short or long with °, our four quarters
will look like this:

° ° ° ° |     | ° ° ° ° |     ||
The last syllable in quarter 2 or 4 may be short, but it will be considered long by the rule that any
syllable before a pause is long.
§7. Before going to the triṣṭubh meters, we need to note two more things. Normally a pāda in a
Sanskrit verse will have a pause, a place where we briefly stop before continuing with chanting. We
will mark it with (‘). This pause, technically called caesura (and in Sanskrit yati), should properly be
after 4 syllables in anuṣṭubh, but that is not a strict rule. In fact, we see it observed in pāda a of our
example: dharma-kṣetre ‘ kuru-kṣetre, but not observed in pāda c: māmakāḥ ‘ pāṇḍavaś caiva, where it
shifts one syllable ahead.
§8. As it will become obvious shortly, Sanskrit prosodists have, for mnemonic purposes, organized
clusters of syllables into groups of three (called gaṇa) and marked each of these groups with a specific
short syllable. In addition, a loose single short or long syllable was also marked. This device made it
possible to express the structure of any meter in a short formula. Thus, the 14 syllable meter Vasanta-
tilakā (in which, for example, the following line is written: mathnāmi kaurava-śataṃ samare na
kopād), having the following structure of short/long syllables:              ; could
for memorization purposes be expressed as: ta bha ja ja ga ga.
The marks of gaṇas and the loose short and long syllables are:

ya  bha  na  la (laghu) 

ra  ja  ma  ga (guru) 
ta  sa 

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It is not absolutely necessary to memorize this notation, but it will be useful to know how to look at it
and figure how a formula translates into a full meter.
§9. Triṣṭubh. There are several common meters having 11 syllables to the line, three of which are
closely related, namely Indravajrā, Upendravajrā and Upajāti. We will begin with Indravajrā, whose
syllabic structure is:



The classical definition quoted in Apte is: syād indra-vajrā yadi tau jagau gaḥ, “Let Indravajra be when
there are two tas, ja and two gas.”
Scheme: ta ta ja ga ga
||||

kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ
yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me
śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam || Gītā 2.7 ||

Upendra-vajrā differs from Indra-vajrā only in the first syllable, which is now light.



Definition: upendra-vajrā prathame laghau sā, “Upendra-vajrā is the same meter as Indra-varjā, with
the first syllable light.”
Scheme: ja ta ja ga ga
||||

tvam akṣaraṁ paramaṁ veditavyaṁ

tvam asya viśvasya paraṁ nidhānam
tvam avyayaḥ śāśvata-dharma-goptā
sanātanas tvaṁ puruṣo mato me || Gītā 11.18 ||

Upajāti is a meter in which Indra-vajrā and Upendra-vajrā are freely mixed, which means its structure
would be:

°

The only requirement is that the initial ° should not be short or long in all four lines, since then it
would be either Indra-vajrā or Upendra-vajrā. Most of the triṣṭubh verses in the Bhagavad-gītā, in fact,
are in Upajāti.

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§9.1. Śālinī. This is a meter dominated by heavy syllables. It is perhaps the first meter in which the
caesura is strictly observed.

‘

Definition: māt tau gau cec chālinī vedalokaiḥ, “If two tas and two gas follow after ma, that is called
śālinī.”
Scheme: ma ta ta ga ga
||||
Caesura: 4 ‘ 7
While caesura is strictly observed, sometimes we see instances in which the first syllable in any of the
lines may be short.

nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke

kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye
tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam || Bhāgavata 5.5.1 ||

§10. Jagatī. These are the meters that have 12 syllables to the line. The basic jagatī meter is Vaṁśa-stha
(called also vaṁśa-sthavila or vaṁśa-sthanita), whose structure is:



Definition: vadanti vaṁśa-sthavilaṁ jatau jarau, “When the meter is ja ga ja ra, they call it Vaṁśa-
sthavila.”
Scheme: ja ta ja ra
|||

sa ucca-kāśe dhavalodaro daro

'py urukramasyādhara-śoṇa-śoṇimā |
dādhmāyamānaḥ kara-kañja-sampuṭe
yathābja-khaṇḍe kala-haṁsa utsvanaḥ || Bhāgavata 1.11.2 ||

Closely related is the Indra-vaṁśā, whose only difference is that the first syllable is heavy rather than
light:



Definition: tac chendra-vaṁśā prathamākṣare gurau, “Indra-vaṁśā is the same as Vaṁśa-stha, with
the first syllable heavy.”
Scheme: ta ta ja ra
|||

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The two meters are often mixed in a line. For instance, in the above verse quoted as an instance for
Vaṁśa-stha, pāda c begins in a long syllable and is, thus, in Indra-vaṁśā.
§10.1. Druta-vilambita. This meter combines fast and slow pace, as its name suggests:



Definition: druta-vilambitam āha nabhau bharau, ‘They call it drutavilambita when the sequence is na
bha bha ra.”
Scheme: na bha bha ra
|||

nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ

śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam |
pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayaṁ
muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ || Bhāgavata 1.1.3 ||

§11. Vasanta-tilakā. Of the meters having 14 syllables to the line, Vasanta-tilakā, meaning “the
ornament of spring,” is very popular, second only to Śārdūla-vikrīḍita. It structure is:



Definition: uktā vasanta-tilakā tabhajā jagau gaḥ, ‘It is called Vasantatilakā when the sequence is ta,
bha, ja, ja, ga, ga.”
Scheme: ta bha ja ja ga ga
|||||

For our example, we choose one of the most famous verses from Kālidāsa’s Abhijñāna-śākuntalam:

ramyāṇi vīkṣya madhurāṃś ca niśamya śabdān

paryutsuko bhavati yat sukhito 'pi jantuḥ |
tac cetasā smarati nūnam abodha-pūrvaṃ
bhāva-sthirāṇi jananāntara-sauhṛdāni || 5.2 ||

§12. The best-known 15 syllable meter is Mālinī. It has a distinct caesura after the 8th syllable, which is
invariantly observed. Its structure is:

        ‘      

Definition: nanamayayayuteyaṁ mālinī bhogi-lokaiḥ, “When the sequence is na na ma ya ya, this is

mālinī. It consists of eight and seven.”
Scheme: na na ma ya ya

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||||

jayatu jayatu devo devakī-nandano ‘yaṁ

jayatu jayatu kṛṣṇo vṛṣṇi-vaṁśa-pradīpaḥ
jayatu jayatu megha-śyāmalaḥ komalāṅgo
jayatu jayatu pṛthvī-bhāra-nāśo mukundaḥ || Mukunda-mālā 2 ||

§13. There are several very common and lovely meters with 17 syllables to the line. We will begin with
the most famous among them, the Mandākrāntā. Some consider Mandākrāntā to be the most
beautiful of all Sanskrit meters. Kālidāsa’s Megha-dūta is written in Mandākrāntā, as are most of the
messenger poems written in the likeness of Megha-dūta. It has two distinct caesuras, after the fourth
and after the tenth syllable. Its structure is:

’‘

Definition: mandākrāntāmbudhi-rasa-nagair mo bhanau tau ga-yugmam, “Mandākrāntā has the

sequence of ma, bha, na, ta, ta, ga and ga and consists of four [oceans], six [tastes] and seven
[mountains].”
Scheme: ma bha na ta ta ga ga
||||||

For our example, we will use the first verse of the Megha-dūta:

kaścit kāntā-viraha-guruṇā svādhikāra-pramattaḥ

śāpenāstaṁ-gamita-mahimā varṣa-bhogyeṇa bhartuḥ |
yakṣaś cakre janaka-tanayā-snāna-puṇyodakeṣu
snigdha-cchāyā-taruṣu vasatiṃ rāma-giry-āśrameṣu || 1 ||

§13.1. Hariṇī is a meter with two caesuras, after the sixth and after the tenth syllable. Like the
Mandākrāntā, it consists of series of long and short syllables in the first two sections and of a mix in
the last, but here the two are reversed: we begin with five short and continue with five long syllables.
The name means ‘doe, female deer’, apparently to convey the gracious manner in which deer jump.
The structure is:

      ‘    ‘      

Definition: nasamarasalā gaḥ ṣaḍvedair hayair hariṇī matā, “Hariṇī has the sequence of na, sa, ma, ra,
sa, la and ga, and consists of six, four [Vedas] and seven [horses].”
Scheme: na sa ma ra sa la ga
||||||

Our example comes from Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa’s drama Veṇī-saṁhāra:

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kṛtam anumataṃ dṛṣṭaṃ vā yair idaṃ guru-pātakaṃ
manuja-paśubhir nirmaryādair bhavadbhir udāyudhaiḥ |
naraka-ripuṇā sārdhaṃ teṣāṃ sa-bhīma-kirīṭinām
ayam aham asṛṅ-medomāṃsaiḥ karomi diśāṃ balim || 3.24 ||

13.2. Śikharini has the following structure:

‘

Definition: rasau rudraiś chinnā yamanasabhalā gaḥ śikhariṇī, “Śikhariṇī has the sequence of ya, ma,
na, sa, bha, la, ga, and consists of six, four [Vedas] and seven [horses].”
Scheme: ya ma na sa bha la ga
||||||

Our example is from the Brahma-saṁhitā:

śriyaḥ kāntāḥ kāntaḥ parama-puruṣaḥ kalpa-taravo

drumā bhūmiś cintāmaṇi-gaṇa-mayi toyam amṛtam |
kathā gānaṃ nāṭyaṃ gamanam api vaṃśī priya-sakhi
cid-ānandaṃ jyotiḥ param api tad āsvādyam api ca || 5.65 ||

§14. The most famous verse with 19 syllables to the line is at the same time the most widely used meter
in classical Sanskrit poetry. Śārdūla-vikrīḍita has a distinct and invariant caesura after 12 syllables. Its
structure is:

‘

Definition: sūryāśvair yadi maḥ sajau satatagāḥ śārdūla-vikrīḍitam, “Śārdūlavikrīḍita has the sequence
of ma, sa, ja, sa, ta, ta, ga. It consists of twelve [Sūrya is an ellipsis standing for the Ādityas, twelve in
number] and seven [aśva—the Sun god’s horses, seven in number].”
Scheme: ma sa ja sa ta ta ga
||||||

We give one of the maṅgala verses from the Veṇī-saṁhāra. Several beautiful verses in the Bhāgavata
are written in this meter as well.

kālindyāḥ pulineṣu keli-kupitām utsṛjya rāse rasaṃ

gacchantīm anugacchato ‘śru-kaluṣāṃ kaṃsa-dviṣo rādhikām |
tat-pāda-pratimā-niveśita-padasyodbhūta-romodgater
akṣuṇṇo ‘nunayaḥ prasanna-dayitā-dṛṣṭasya puṣṇātu vaḥ || 1.2 ||

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§15. The largest meter used with some regularity is the Śragdharā, which has 21 syllables to the line. It
has two caesuras, dividing the verse in three sections of seven syllables. Its structure is:

‘‘

Definition: mrabhrair yānāṁ trayeṇa trimuni-yati-yutā sragdharā kīrtiteyam, “Sragdharā has the
sequence of ma, ra, bha, ra, ya, ya, ya. It has caesura of three times seven [muni is a sage, there are
seven great sages, saptarṣis, in Hinduism.]”
Scheme: ma ra bha na ya ya ya
|| ||||

We will take the maṅgala verse from Kālidāsa’s Abhijñāna-śākuntalam as our example:

yā sṛṣṭiḥ sraṣṭur ādyā vahati vidhi-hutaṃ yā havir yā ca hotrī

ye dve kālaṃ vidhattaḥ śruti-viṣaya-guṇā yā sthitā vyāpya viśvam |
yām āhuḥ sarva-bīja-prakṛtir iti yayā prāṇinaḥ prāṇavantaḥ
pratyakṣābhiḥ prapannas tanubhir avatu vas tābhir aṣṭābhir īśaḥ || 1.1 ||

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