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$26-27 ]
सवृत्तिकः कविदर्पणः
letter is said to represent or rather consist of, one Mātrā, i.e., VarnaMātrā and a long letter, two Varņa-Mātrās.
27. This new type of rhythm or music is quite different from the rhythm or music which is at the basis of the Classical Sanskrit Varna Vịttas or the Vedic Aksara Vsttas. The music of the Vedic metres is produced by the modulation of voice, i.e., by raising or lowering of the voice in three or more pitches, while the music of the Classical Sanskrit Varņa Vșttas is dependent upon the alternation or variation of short and long sounds. Very different from these two is the Tāla Sangita or rhythm, where the main source of the music or rhythm is the regularly recurring stressed pause, which is guided by a time unit, namely the Kāla-Mātrā. This time unit is generally indicated by a time-keeping instrument or by a regularly trained clapping of hands or moving of some part of the body as in a dance. This type of Sangita or rhythm as also the metres which are based on it are purely popular in origin. They are totally foreign to Vedic or Classical Sanskrit metres. In the case of metres which obey the Tāla-Sangīta, a line of a stanza is divisible into Tāla-Ganas, just as a line of the Sanskrit Varna Vrttas is divisible into Aksara-Ganas or a lin Sanskrit Mātrā Vrttas is divisible into Mätra-Ganas. Further, these TālaGaņas have to be kept separate from each other by avoiding a long letter at their junction, like the Mātrā Gaņas in the case of the Sanskrit Mātrā Vșttas. The question of keeping the Aksara-Gaņas separate does not arise. because there is no possibility of their being mixed up; while it does arise in the case of the pure Mātrā Vịttas, since the Mātrā-Gaņas can be mixed up by combining the last Mātrā of the earlier Gana with the first Mātrā of a later Gaņa into a long letter. Thus, for example, the whole rhythm of a Gāthā will be disturbed if a long letter is ușed for the 4th and the 5th, or the 8th and the 9th Mātrās, together. But if such a mixture of the Mātrā Ganas is avoided, any letters, whether short or long, may be used anywhere in the line of a Gāthā, barring of course, the exceptions which are mentioned in the definition itself. Similarly, the Tāla-Gaņas must be kept separate by avoiding a long letter at the junction of these. The Mātrā-Gaņas are usually mentioned as five in number and respectively contain 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 Mātrās in them, as said at Kavidarpana 1.2. The Tāla-Gaņas, however, are not mentioned anywhere in works on Apabhramsa prosody and are to be known from the actual singing of these metres and from manuals of Music. Broadly speaking, they are four in number and respectively contain 5, 6, 7 and 8 Kāla-Mātrās in them, or perhaps, 6, 7, 8 and 10 KālaMātrās in them. These Kāla-Mātrās in the Tāla Vșttas may be filled up by
