In this course, one will study all the major meters used in Sanskrit poetry and learn how to sing them.
Description:
Prosody is at least as old as the first texts that appeared in written form, the Vedas, in which we see a diversity of metrical forms. In traditional Vedic learning, prosody is called canda and is counted as one of the Vedas, which include vyakarana (grammar), nirukta (etymology), siksa (phonetics), jyotisha (astronomy) and kalpa (sacrificial rules).
The Paniniya-siksa (41-42) describes the importance of the Vedangas as follows:
“Chanda is the feet of the Vedas, kalpa is the hands, jyotisha is the eyes, nirukta is the ears, siksa is the nose, and vyakarana is the mouth. Therefore one who has studied the Vedas with all its limbs becomes exalted in Brahma-loka.”
Such is the importance of chandA that it is given the position of support of the Vedas. Knowledge of chandah plays an essential role in the accurate recitation of the Vedas and in the composition of treatises in Sanskrit. It is a very ancient custom to write whole books in one or more meters, the purpose being twofold: to facilitate memorization of the text and to make it suitable for melodic and rhythmic recitation. Another aspect common in Sanskrit literature is the poets’ use of chanda to fully display the dimension of their scholarship, culminating in compositions like the citra-kavita, poems in the form of pictures. Accordingly, the vast majority of Sanskrit texts were composed in verse (padya) rather than prose (gadya).
