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xxviii
सवृत्तिकः कविदर्पणः
[INTRODUCTION
Vrttas, the distribution of the entire syllabic quantity of a metrical line into the Mātrā Ganas aims only at the avoidance of a long letter at the junction of these Ganas, thereby securing their separateness from each other. But in the Tāla Vrttas the Mātrā Ganas have another function to perform. They must represent the groups of time-units or Kāla-Mātrā which constitute and govern the Tāla of a metrical line. These groups of time-units too, have to be kept separate from each other by avoiding a long letter at their junction, so as to prevent their interlocking. 20a Any way, the author of the Kavidarpana has for some such reasons as given above, separated the Vaitālīya group from the other two groups of Mātrā Vịttas, viz., the Gāthā group and the Mātrāsamaka group, describing these latter under pure Mātrā Vịttas in the second chapter. In the Vaitālīya group, there are three chief metres; they are 1. Vaitālīya; 2. Aupacchandasaka; 3 and Apātalikā. The odd lines of a Vaitālīya are divisible into two parts, the first consisting of 6 Mātrās regardless of the position of a long letter in them. The second part consists of a Ragaņa followed by a short and a long letter in succession. The even lines are identical in structure with the odd ones, except that they have 2 additional Mātrās at their commencement: A Vaitālīya is turned into an Aupacchandasaka if the Ragana in all the lines is followed by a Yagana, instead of the short and the long letter at the end. Similarly, it is turned into an Apātalikā, when the Ragana is replaced by a Bhagana and the short letter after it by a long one, so that the concluding part of all the four lines consists of a Bhagana followed by 2 long letters. There is, however, one more condition about the 8 Mātrās at the commencement of the even Pädas of all the three metres; it is that among the letters that represent them, six short letters in succession must never be employed. If the 4th and the 5th out of the 8 Mātrās in the even Pādas are combined into a long letter, these three metres get the additional name of Prācyikā; and when the 2nd and the 3rd out of the 6 Mātrās in their odd Pādas are similarly represented by a long letter, they get the additional name Udicyikā. When the long letter as directed above is used in both the odd and the even Pädas of the three main metres, they get the appendage Pravṛttaka affixed to their names. Thus we have three varieties of each of the Prācyikā, the Udicyikā and the Pravrttaka. In the same context, the author defines 2 more Sama Vșttas, each of which is sixfold. Thus we get 6 kinds of Aparāntikā, all the four Pādas of which are respectively equivalent to the even Pādas of the three principal metres and the three varieties of the Prācyikā. Similarly, we have 6 kinds of Cāruhāsinī, all the four Pādas of which are respectively equal to the odd Pādas 20a Şee Apabhrañśa Metres III, para 4 (p. 1067).
