Anuṣṭubh

Syllables per pāda

8

Kind

Jāti — counted by syllables

Four pādas of 8 syllables; all four are built alike.

The commonest metre by far — more than half of this library. Only syllables 5 to 7 of a pāda are fixed; the rest are free. When the 7th syllable of the odd pādas is heavy the stanza is pathyā, the ordinary form; the departures are called vipulās and break nothing.

Pattern

A × marks a free position: either weight will do there.

How to read the marks

• ⏑Laghu — a light syllableOne beat. Said short and lightly.
• –Guru — a heavy syllableTwo beats: held exactly twice as long as a light one. In the line it also carries a faint tint.
• Pāda boundaryA stanza falls into four quarters — pādas. The boundary is a short stop, as at the end of a line.
• Yati — caesuraWhere the breath falls inside a long pāda. A shorter, fainter rule.

Example