Verse metre

Upajāti

उपजातिupajāti

Syllables per pāda
11
Kind
Samavṛtta — all four pādas alike
Gaṇas
indravajrā and upendravajrā mixed
Yati after syllable
5

Four pādas of 11 syllables; all four are built alike.

Not a metre of its own but a stanza whose pādas mix indravajrā and upendravajrā freely: the two differ only in their first syllable.

Pattern

1×
2×
3×
4×

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

हि प्रश्यामि मानुद्या-
द्यच्छोमुच्छोमिन्द्रियाणाम्
वाप्य भूमात्नमृद्धं
राज्यं सुराणापि चाधित्यम्

na hi prapaśyāmi mapanudyād
yac chokam ucchoṣaṇam indriṇām |
apya bhūv asapatnam ṛddhaṁ
jyaṁ suṇām api dhipatyam ||

Bhagavad Gita 2.8Open the verse