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xlii
agfaen: anfador:
[INTRODUCTION
properly and correctly pronounced short and long letters, whose timevalue is fixed by tradition and convention, or by improperly pronounced short and long letters, to which time-value is attached by the poet or singer at his sweet will and against the conventional mode of pronunciation, or sometimes, even by a silent rest or pause in which no letters are pronounced at all. Each of these Tāla-Ganas forms a musical unit as it were and the Mātrā on which the stroke of the Tāla falls must not in any case be combined into a long letter with its predecessor, since the stroke of the Tāla cannot be made to accompany the 2nd of the two Kāla-Mātrās represented by the corresponding Varṇa-Mātrā of a long letter. If, on the other hand, the stroke indicating the pause of the Tāla were to accompany the first Mätra of the long letter, the Tala will be disturbed, since the stroke of the Tāla will be a little too early; while, if it were to accompany the next letter after the long one in question, the stroke of the Tāla will be a little too late. Beyond this rule of avoiding a long letter at the junction of two Tala-Ganas, the Apabĥraṁśa poets do not necessarily observe all the conventional rules about the pronunciation of letters according to Sanskrit prosody. They often take liberty in pronouncing letters, i.e., they pronounce short letters long and long letters short, not caring for the usual and conventional spelling of a word in the language. They sometimes even squeeze several letters within a Tala-Gaṇa, which if properly pronounced would not be contained in it. The Apabhraṁśa prosodists indeed do lay down certain rules of pronunciation of letters for general guidance; thus, they lay down that the usual distinction between short and long letters should be observed; but some letters considered as long as 'a rule have to be considered as short in Apabhramśa poetry. These are for example, e and o, nasalised letters and conjunct consonants which have h or r in them; but even these may be treated as long letters if required by the metrical rhythm. This means, that the poet may treat these letters as short or long according to his will and convenience. As said above, the poet's main concern is the preservation of his Tāla in the lines of the song; conventional pronunciation of letters and words may be set aside when necessary and sometimes the Käla-Mātrās required for a particular Tāla-Gaṇa may even be filled up by means of silent pauses where no letters are uttered or by stretching out the pronunciation of a letter so as to cover the necessary number of the Kala-Mātrās.
28. Among the metres defined by Ratnaśekhara many are amenable to the Tala of 8 Mātrās, which is of very common occurrence in Apabhramsa poetry. Thus Somakränta (v. 4), Dodhaka (v. 5), Mauktikadāma
