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mu dyo ta kam da li ta -pa pa- tamo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
vi ta nam 12 13 14
samyak pra na mya ji na pä da yu gam 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
yu 11
gä dä13 14
va lam ba nam 1 2 3 4
bha va ja le pa ta täm 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
ja nä näm || 1|| 12 13 14
The Vasant-tilkä also has one more characteristic and that it also contains the composition of mäträs within it.
To check the mäträs, one has to separate the lines of poems into groups of three syllables. In this case because there are fourteen syllables in each line, we can group the first twelve syllables into four groups each having three syllables. This way four times three will be twelve syllables. Last two syllables will simply be written on their own.
Let us see the grouping of poem's first line:
Bhaktä ma ra -pra na ta- mäu li ma ni -pra bhä nä - ------------- ------------- -----------------
---- --- --- Here we have now four groups of three syllables each and the last two loose syllables. In each group the letter is to be identified as short or long syllable.
In Sanskrit poems a letter/syllable can have one or two mäträs. A normal and easy way is to check the pronunciation. The letter/syllable on its own, or a short one, is considered short with one mäträ, and the one with a long pronunciation is considered one having two mäträs.
For example, the sound B in Bus or But is small (laghu) and when you write Ball it sounds like B-O-L here BO is also small because it is a short sound, but if you write Bowl then the pronunciation would be: BAU-L. Here BAU is considered one long syllable.
In the Vasant-tilkä form, four groups and two single syllables should be like this: S S L S LL LSL LSLSS (S for short and L for long syllables).
One can check the whole poem and see that the Bhaktämara Stotra does follow the rules of the Vasant-tilkä meter. It can be seen that writing poetry and sticking to a particular composition was not an easy task. The methods above explain how a Vasant-tilkä meter is composed.
Now we will see one more interesting aspect of this poem.
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