A Practical Grammar of the Pali Language

626. Prosody is that part of Grammar which treats of the laws of versification.
A gŒthŒ in PŒli poetry, is a stanza.
A pŒda is the fourth part of a stanza, called also a quarter verse.
A vaööa is a syllable in a pŒda.
A short syllable is termed lahu.
A long syllable is called garu.
A foot is termed gaöa.

627. The mark

represents a short syallable, and the mark

a long syllable. A foot containing two long syllables is termed gŒ, that is, ga+ga, the initial syllable ga of the word garu being used to represent a long syllable. A foot of two short syllables is termed la, that is la+la, the initial syllable of the word lahu being employed to represent a short syllable.

Syllables	PŒli	English
	la la or lŒ	Pyrrhic
	ga ga or gŒ	Spondee
	la ga	Lambus
	ga la	Trochee

629. The eight-syllable feet, known in PŒli as the aÊÊhagaöa are as follows:

Syllables	Pali	English
	ma	Molossus
	na	Tribach
	bhŒ	Dactyl
	ya	Bacchic
	ja	Amphibrach
	sa	Anapaest
	ra	Cretic
	ta	Antibacchic

630. The short vowels in PŒli are a, i, u, the long vowels are Œ, ´, è, e, o. When a, i or u is followed by a double consonant, it is prosodically long. For instance, the first as well as the second a in cakka–ca, is long because followed by kk and –c respectively. Before niggahita (µ) a short vowel is also always prosodically long. Thus in saccaµ, the a before µ is long. In poetry, a naturally short vowel is occasionally lengthened and a naturally long one shortened to meet the exigencies of the metre. In order to make a short vowel long, the consonant following it is sometimes doubled.

631. There are three classes of metres, termed sama, addhasama, and visama. When the syllables in all the pŒdas are exactly alike the metre is called sama; when those in the first and third and those in the second and fourth pŒdas are alike it is addhasama; and when all the pŒdas or verses are different, the metre is termed visama.

632. In gŒthas of this class, the syllables in each pŒda may range from six up to twenty-two. The names of the seventeen kinds of metres are as follows:

gŒyatti	6 syllables	atisakkar´	15 syllables
uöhi	7 syllables	aÊÊhi	16 syllables
anuÊÊhubhaµ	8 syllables	atyaÊÊhi	17 syllables
brahati	9 syllables	dhuti	18 syllables
panti	10 syllables	atidhuti	19 syllables
tuÊÊhubhaµ	11 syllables	kati	20 syllables
jagati	12 syllables	pakati	21 syllables
atijagati	13 syllables	akati	22 syllables
sakkar´	14 syllables

633. These are again subdivided according to the kind of feet employed in each stanza; as the four pŒdas are similar, the scheme of only one pŒda is given for each kind of metre:

1. gŒyatti, having pŒdas of six syllables. There is one variety:
tanumajjhŒ,

2. uöhi having pŒdas of seven syllables. There is one variety:
kumŒralatitŒ,

3. anuÊÊhubhaµ having pŒdas of eight syllables. There are five varieties.
(i) citrapadŒ,

(ii) vijjummala,

(iii) mŒöavakaµ,

(iv) sŒmaöika,

(v) pŒmaöikŒ,

4. brahati having pŒdas of nine syllables. There are two varieties.
(i) halamukh´,

(ii) bhujagasusu,

5. panti having pŒdas of ten syllables. There are seven varieties.
(i) suddhavirŒjitam,

(ii) panavo,

(iii) rummavati,

(iv) matta,

(v) campakamala,

(vi) manorama,

(v´) ubbhasakam,

6. tuÊÊhubhaµ having pŒdas of eleven syllables. There are eleven varieties.
(i) upaÊÊhitŒ,

(ii) indavajirŒ,

(iii) upavajirŒ,

Remark. When the quarter-verses of indavajirŒ and upavajirŒ are mixed together in a stanza in any order, the stanza is them called upajŒti.

(iv) sumukkh´,

(v) dodhakaµ,

(vi) sŒlin´,

(vii) vŒtummissŒ,

(viii) surasasir´,

(ix) rathoddhatŒ,

(x) svŒgata,

(xi) bhaddikŒ,

7. jagati having pŒdas of twelve syllables. There are fourteen varieties.
(i) vasamaÊÊha,

(ii) indavaµsŒ,

(iii) toÊaka,

(iv) dutavilaµbita,

(v) puÊa,

Remark. There are pauses after the fourth and twelfth syllables.
(vi) kusumavicittŒ,

(vii) bhujaºgappayŒta,

(viii) piyamvada,

(ix) lalitŒ,

(x) pamitakkarŒ,

(xi) ujjalŒ,

(xii) vessadev´,

Remark. There are pauses after the fifth and twelfth syllables.
(xiii) tŒmarasaµ,

(xiv) kamalŒ,

8. atijagati having pŒdas of thirteen syllables. There are two varieties.
(i) pahŒsin´,

Remark. There are pauses after the third and thirteenth syllables.
(ii) rucirŒ,

Remark. There are pauses after the fourth and thirteenth syllables.

9. sakkar´ having pŒdas of fourteen syllables. There are three varieties.
(i) aparŒjitŒ,

Remark. There are pauses after the seventh and fourteenth syllables.
(ii) paharaöakalikŒ,

Remark. There are pauses after the seventh and fourteenth syllables.
(iii) vasantatilakŒ,

10. atisakkar´ fifteen syllables. There are four varieties.
(i) sasikala,

(ii) maöigunŒnikaro,

Remark. There are pauses after the eighth and fifteenth syllables.
(iii) malin´,

Remark. There is a pause after the eighth syllable.
(iv) pabhaddakaµ,

11. aÊÊhi having pŒdas of sixteen syllables. There is one variety.
(i) vŒnin´,

12. atyaÊÊhi having pŒdas of seventeen syllables. There are three varieties.
(i) sikharin´,

Remark. There are pauses after the sixth and seventeenth syllables.
(ii) harin´,

(iii) mandakkantŒ,

Remark. There are pauses after the fourth, tenth and seventeenth syllables.

13. dhuti having pŒdas of eighteen syllables. There is one variety.
(i) kusumitalatŒvellitŒ,

14. atidhuti having pŒdas of nineteen syllables. There are two varieties.
(i) meghavipphujjitŒ,

Remark. There are pauses after the sixth and thirteenth, and nineteenth syllables.
(ii) saddèlavikk´it´,

Remark. There are pauses after the twelfth and nineteenth syllables.

15. kati having pŒdas of twenty syllables. There is one variety.
(i) vutta,

16. pakati having pŒdas of twenty-one syllables. There is one variety.
(i) saddharŒ,

17. akati having pŒdas of twenty-two syllables. There is one variety.
(i) bhaddaka,

634. In the addhasama class of metres, the first and the third, and the second and fourth pŒdas are similar. The following table shows eleven kinds of metres that come under this head:

Remark. The aparavutta corresponds to the vetŒliya explained, referred to lower down.

641. In the first of these, the ariyŒ, the first two pŒdas of half a gŒthŒ contain seven and a half feet; in the even, that is, in the second, fourth, and sixth feet, any of the following, namely, ba, ja, sa, gŒ, or four short syllables may be employed, but ja must not be used in the odd feet, that is, in the first, third, and fifth. The sixth foot may be la or four short syllables. The second-half stanza must fulfil the same conditions. It is necessary to observe that in the jŒti metre a foot consists of four syllabic instants, the time taken up in pronouncing a short syllable being taken as an instant of time; thus a long syllable being taken equal to two short ones, each foot used in the ariyŒ is equal to four syllabic instants. The following is an illustration of an ariyŒ stanza:

642. The vetŒliya is so formed that it usually consists of fourteen syllabic instants in the odd quarters and sixteen in the even, while the mattŒsamaka consists of sixteen syllabic instants in each quarter. The metres of the jŒti class furnish many varieties, but it is not within the scope of this work to treat of them in detail. As, however, the vetŒliya is of rather frequent occurrence, we give below the scheme of it. Each pŒda is divided into three seats; the first seat in the first and third pŒdas must have six syllabic instants; the first seat of the second and fourth pŒdas must contain eight syllabic instants; the second seat must be a cretic foot and the third a lambic foot:

Remarks.
(a) The above is a perfect veÊŒliya. In the third seat, the following feet may be found instead of the lambus:

pyrrhic
- - spondee

- - bacchic

amphibrac
(b) the sign of the long syllable (-) must be counted as 2 since it is equal to two short syllables.

Name of Metre	Odd quarter-verses	Even quarter-verses
	1st.-3rd.	2nd.-4th.
upacitta	- - - -	- - - - -
ratamajjhŒ	- - - - -	- - - -
vegavati	- - - -	- - - - -
bhaddavirŒjaµ	- - - - - -	- - - - - - -
ketumati	- - - - -	- - - - -
akhyŒnikŒ	- - - - - - -	- - - - - -
viparitapubba	- - - - - -	- - - - - - -
hariöapaluta	- - - -	- - - -
aparavutta	- - -	- - - -
pubbittaggŒ	- - - -	- - - - -
yavŒdikŒmat´	- - - - - -	- - - - - - -

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th foot
First half stanza	- -,	,	- -,	- ,	- -,	- ,	- ,	-
Second half stanza	-,	,	- - ,	- - ,	- - ,	,	- - ,	-

Number	1st seat	2nd seat	3rd seat
of syllabic instants.		Cretic	Lambus
1st pŒda	6 six syllabic instants	- -	-
2nd pŒda	8 eight syllabic instants	- -	-
3rd pŒda	6 six syllabic instants	- -	-
4th pŒda	8 eight syllabic instants	- -	-