Śloka

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 ''anuṣṭubh'' metre, used in the ''Bhagavad Gita'' 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 ''anuṣṭubh'' 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. The ''śloka'' is the verse-form generally used in the ''Mahabharata'', the ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, Smritis, and scientific treatises of Hinduism such as ''Sushruta Samhita'' and ''Charaka Samhita''. 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''s.

The ''anuṣṭubh'' is found in Vedic texts, but its presence is minor, and '' triṣṭubh'' and ''gayatri'' metres dominate in the ''Rigveda''. 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'', in grief on seeing a hunter shoot down one of two birds in love (see Valmiki). 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 (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 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, 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
"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, Magha, and Bilhana, 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 ''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'' metre typically had the iambic ending u – u x (where "x" represents an ''anceps'' 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:

:
:
:
:

:, – – – – , 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'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
* Subhashita
* Vedic metre
* 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
"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