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छन्दोऽनुशासनम् । 4. The author of the Jānāsrayi has used 18 consonants for his 18 Akşara Gaņas as their symbols, putting them at the end of those Gaņas which they represent. Thus vibhātik means that k stands for an Akşara Gana which contains short, long and short Aksaras in order. In this he has followed Pingala, but has added ten more Gaņas as said above. Of these 18 Gaņas, he mentions the four Dvi-Akşara Gaņas at the beginning, followed by the all-short Catur-Akşara Gana (IIII), Anta-guru Catur-Akşara Gaņa (IIIS), and all-short Şad-Akşara Gaņa (IIIIII) in succession. Hereafter, we get the 8 Tri-Akşara Gaņas in the same order in which they are given by Pingala, namely, in the order of the Prastāra, where a Gaņa containing all long letters stands at the beginning and that which contains all short stands at the end. After these, a Catur-Akşara Gaņa with the second short (SISS), and two Pañca-Aksara Gaņas, which have the second and the fourth short, and second and the third short respectively, are given (SISIS; SIISS). As explained above each of these Gaņas has a consonant at its end which is used by the author as the representative of that Gaņa. But in addition to these consonant symbols, the author has used also other symbols consisting of the vowels of the initial Akşaras used in each of the last 11 Gaņas, namely, the Gaņas beginning with the Trikas. Thus vibhātik i. e., the Madhya-guru Trika, will be represented, not merely by the consonant k, but also by the vowel of the first letter vi i. e. i. This double system of symbols enables the author to avoid the use of pure consonants or conjuncts in his definitions, but on the whole it is often a source of confusion to the uninitiated reader. It is also to be noted that the author of this work uses the letters bha and ha as symbols for a long and a short letter respectively, instead of Pingala's ga and la (or g and ), for no apparent reason. More important, however, is the use to which he puts these Akşara Gaņas in the definitions of his Mātrā Vrttas. According to him ha signifies a short letter as well as a single Akşara Mātrā, and the word Gaņa ordinarily signifies a group of 4 short letters, but also a group of 4 Akşara Mātrās according to the context. Sometimes, however, a group of 5 short letters or 5 Aksara Mātrās is also conveyed by the word Gaņa, when any such group is specifically conveyed by its symbol in the course of the definitions of the metres. As a matter of fact, the Pancamātrika Gaņa is not required, nor employed by the Sanskrit Prosodists for the definitions of the Sanskrit Mātrā Vrttas in any of
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