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agfam: fazdor:
[INTRODUCTION
Pañcapadi, Satpadi and Aṣṭapadi metres are simple metres consisting of a single stanza each, having respectively 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 Pādas in them; while some Ṣatpadis, Saptapadi, some Aṣṭapadīs, Navapadi, Daśapadi, Ekādaśapadi, Dvādaśapadi and Soḍaśapadi metres are always composite ones consisting of 2, 3 or even 4, stanzas in simple metres of the same or of different types, strophically combined. These strophic couplets or triplets are a peculiarity of Prakrit and Apabhraṁśa poetry, especially the latter. They owe their origin as much to the idea of variety and ornamentation as to the need of finishing an incomplete sentence or topic started in the earlier stanza. But the incompleteness in many cases is intentional and not due to negligence or want of skill, though their early origin may perhaps be traceable to these two factors. Thus the couplet or triplet is intended to form a unit, both syntactically and in respect of contents. In some cases, the repetition of a few words from the earlier stanza in the later one is acutally prescribed to give greater effect to this intention. Really speaking, such a strophic combination of stanzas may be considered as the beginning of lyric and narrative poetry in the Prakrit and the Apabraṁśa languages. Such strophic couplets and triplets are certainly not wanting in Vedic and Classical poetry; but they are comparatively few. In Vedic poetry we get the Barhata and Kakubha Pragathas made up of a stanza in the Bṛhati or the Kakubh metre coupled with another in the Satobṛhati metre. Similarly, we get the Trcas consisting of three Rcs in the same, i.e., Gayatri metre. Generally, they appear to have been composed with the idea of presenting a musical unit for being melodiously sung in the propitiation of the deity at sacrificial sessions. They too exhibit a syntactical unity in a few cases, but almost always a unity of the contents. The Pragatha has also an element of variety and decoration in it; but it does not seem to have served as a starting point for the growth of lyric or narrative poetry in Vedic Sanskrit. On the other hand, the Yugmakas, the Kulakas, the Viseṣakas in Classical Sanskrit are unornamental and owe their origin evidently to the poet's convenience. They are more or less syntactical units in the same metre, and are not based on any idea of variety or ornamentation. As against this, the strophical couplets in the Prakrit and the Apabhramśa languages are intentional and definitely meant for variety and ornamentation.
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7. Among the Dvipadi metres our author selects only three, namely, the two Ullālas, specifically called Kumkuma and Karpura in the language of 4. See also my remarks on the Dvipadi and the Rasaka in Paras 3 and 4 of the introduction to the new edition of the Vṛttajatisamuccaya of Virahānka. 5. See Vṛttajatisamuccaya, 4.86 for these.
