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30
Paramåtma-prakasa
ing; and an objective scanning of a line shows almost uniformly that the first part contains 13 mātrās and the second 11. But when we read the dohā, or try to sing it, it appears that we need 14 mātrās, the last mātrā of a part being necessarily lengthened. So it would be more accurate to state that each line of a dohā contains 14 and 12 mätrās with a definite pause after the 14th mātrā. P-prakáša, however, shows 31 cases in all where the first part of the line has 13 mātrās even when the last syllable is long. In the light of Virahānka's definition, noted below, one will have to accept that some syllable is to be lengthened in these lines. That the dohā line really contains 14 and 12 mätrās is clear from the following definition given by Virahāńka. 2
fafuur JiTT TT373773 fa-c91971 FUOTI
Jag 31-978 à fa ha a 42T3 O TUTTI IV. 27 Remembering the technical terms of Virahānka that turanga=4 mātrās, nära-one guru, paikka-4 mātrās and kannu-two gurus, the definition prescribes 14 and 12 mātrās for a doha..line. Both the lines have the same structure, and often e and o are short in Apabh: thus an objective scanning of even this illustrated dohā shows 13 and 11 mātrās. So Virahānka means that a dohā line has really 14 and 12 though in writing it might show 13 and 11 mātrās. There are other later metrical works like Kavidarpana (II. 15), Prakrta Paingala (I. 66 etc.), Chandahkösa (21) etc., which plainly state that a dohā-line contains 13 and 11 mātrās. Hemacandra, however, takes 14 and 12 mātrās. This means that Virahāňka and Hemacandra take into account the acoustic effect of the flow of a dohā-line, while others adopt the objective scanning. That dohā is pre-eminently an Apabh. metre is
attested by the facts that Virahānka composes his illustration in Apabh. and that Rudraga composes his illustrations of slesa of Sanskrit and Apabh. in dohā metre. The two lines of dohā exhibit rhyme at their close even in Sanskrit as seen from Rudrata's verses. The etymology of the word dohā needs some reflection. Joindu, we have seen, calls it dohā, but Vir a hänka writes its name Duvahaa. If dohā (in Hindi, Rajasthāni, Dūhā) has a Sanskritic origin, it might be derived from the word dvidha indicating thereby i) that a line of dohā is definitely divided into two parts, or ii) that in dohā metre the same line occurs twice. Virahānka appears to favour the second 1 See I. 27c, 32, 36a, 53c, 61a, 680, 73a 77, 79, 85a, and 115a, II. 59a, 69a,
73c, 100c, 103c, 125a, 126, 127c, 136, 137, 138a, 147a 162a, 166a, 187, 188a,
190c, 192a, 194a and 207a. 2 H. D. Velankar: Vịttajātisamuccaya of Virahanka JBBRAS 1929 and 1932; Chandah
kofa in the appendix to his paper 'Apabhramía Metres' in the Journal of the
University of Bombay, Nov 1933; Kavidarpana in the Annals of the B. O, R. I. 1935 3 In view of the Nom. Sg. termination in Apabhramsa, we expect the reading nèüraü. 4 Kavyalankāra IV. 15 and 21.
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