Chandonushasan

SR No.: 090113
Original Sutra Author: Hemchandracharya
Author: H D Velankar
Publisher: Singhi Jain Shastra Shiksha Pith Mumbai
Publication Year: 1961
Total Pages: 444
Language: Sanskrit, Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 9 MB

Page 61

छन्दोऽनुशासनम् ।
45 which is a Sama Catuşpadi with 21 Mātrās in each Päda of which the last three Mātrās are always represented by short letters. In addition to this Rāsaka which is employed for nearly 85 stanzas (out of a total of 223) the poet has used the standard Prākrit metre, the Gāthā, for about 40 stanzas. The Apabhraíša metre Dohā is also often used, both independently and for the strophic couplets, called the Raddās. He has mentioned and employed the Prākrit Skandhaka and the Dvipadi (of 28 Mātrās in each of its four Pādas), as also the Apabhraísa Drumilā, Adilā, Madilā and the Cūļāla Dohaka or Cūdallau. He also uses, without mentioning the names, the metres called Paddhadikā, Kāminimohana and Kavya, all well known Apabhramba metres. Thus from this poem and from the two works on metres, it would not be far from truth if we presume the existence of the activities of the Apabhramśa poets in the field of the Rāsābandha Kāvyas.
37. We have thus traced the growth of Prākrit and Apabhramsa prosody from the days of Kalidāsa's Vikramorvasiya and Jānāsrayi, right upto the times of the Prākrta Paingala and Chandaḥkosa, both of which may roughly be assigned to the latter half of the 14th century A. D. We also saw how Prākrit and Apabhramsa poetry flourished side by side upto the beginning of the 10th century, the former having the upper hand owing to the prominent position enjoyed by it as the language of the learned. During this period Gitikā had become popular by the side of the Gāthā and strophic couplets and triplets called Dvipadis and Rāsakas rose into promjnence, all being known under the general term Sirşakas. This term signified 'a crown', 'a crowning metre', since the poet added a stanza or two in a shorter but different metre like a crown to his composition, which completed a sentence or a topic that was left incomplete in the earlier stanza or stanzas. The term gradually fell into disuse and was followed by another more expressive one viz, Dvibhangi or Tribhangi, as the case may be. Among the Rāsakas there were some which were composed exclusively in metres like the Mātrā and Adilā, i. e., in the Apabhramśa metres, as Virahānka tells us and these clearly indicate the rise of the Rāsābandha Kāvyas or stray and short poems in the Apabhramśa language. For some time Prākrit lyrics called either Dvipadīs or Rāsakas, (the former being probably the earlier ones), grew side by side with the Apabhramsa lyrics known as the Rāsakas, which latter, we are told, were