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Vardhamāna-Sūri's Apabhramśa Meters
271
No. 6.
MK. III 111-118 Mount Girnar is described in a Dvibhangi type of metre, one of its constituent being Madanāvatāra).
The Rāsāvalyas seem to be used mostly in passages describing emotional condition of a character or tense moments in a narrative. This characterization applies to I 182, 193; to the verses II 93 96 (with 97 as the summing-up verse in Vadanaka) and I 135-138. The verses from the story of Candanabālā (I 268-272; 273–274) give the impression of a composition partly executed as a Rāsaka, II 325 is a citation. III 144 is a summing-up verse. III 160-169 is a sermon on chastity. III 512-522 is a hymn to the Tirthankara śāntinātha.
Rāsāvalaya was the standard metre of the Apabhraíba poetic genre Rāsābandha or Rāsaka. The MK. Rāsāvalaya passages are valuable in view of the fact that the rich Rāsaka literature of Apabhramśa is totally lost except a single late specimen, viz, the Samdeśa-rāsaka.
No. 7. Vastuvadanka is used in MK. for the summing-up verse
of a story at I, 326. Elsewhere it is used for variation. In the later regional traditions, Vastuvadanaka forming the first constituent of a two-unit strophic metre called Șatpada (or Kāvya or Sārdha Chandas) beeame very popular, especially for gnomic verses.
No. 8.
No. 9.
Dvipadi, which has been frequently used in Apabhramsa Sandhibandhas, either as a Kadavaka-opening piece or for variation, seems to have declined in popularity after the eleventh century. Dohā is frequently used for sentential sayings, proverbs and bons mots. Many of the Dohā verses in MK. are apt illustrations of the figure Arthāntaranyāsa. Sometimes it is used to highlight some important moment or the conclusion in a narrative. At III, 522 Dohā occurs in the
