Chandas (poetry)


Metrical poetry in Sanskrit is called Chhandas or Chhandas and. Prose and poetry follows the rules of Chhandas to design the structural
features of 'poetry'. Chhandas is a definable aspect of many definable and indefinable aspects of poetry. Chhandas generates rhythm to the literature when the rules are properly followed. Rhythm is important to literature as a preliminary attraction.

Construction of Chandas

Telugu">Telugu language">Telugu Language

In Telugu language, 'Chandas' is constructed based on the number of 'aksharaas' in each line of a poem.
As the same lines are repeated, these are called 'Vruttaas'. If all the lines in a poem follow the same 'types of aksharaas', it is called a 'sama Vrutta'.
There are separate Telugu equivalents for English words 'letter' and 'syllable'. The first one is 'varNamu'. This is the basic 'letter' of the Telugu in the alphabets, and is called 'varNa samaamnaayamu'. There are fifty six 'varNa samaamnaayamu' in Telugu.
The equivalent for 'syllable' in Telugu is 'aksharamu'. 'Syllable' is often defined as the 'unit of pronunciation at a stretch' with a collection of letters in it.
For example, in a word like 'svapnamu', 'sva' is an aksharamu, but not a varNamu as it has two 'varNaas' in it.
These 'aksharaas' are divided into 'laghuvu' and 'guruvu' based on the time period of pronunciation. These 'aksharaas' or syllables are the fundamental aspects in constructing the 'chandas' in Telugu.
Meters of the same length are distinguished by the pattern of laghuvu and guruvu syllables in the paadam.
Pattern of laghuvu and guruvu in a sequence of three is called Gaṇam. The word ya-maa-taa-raa-ja-bhaa-na-sa-la-gam is called Gana Suchi. The Ganas are same as in Sanskrit Chandas.
These Ganam are divided into three major categories:
Based on categories of Ganam, Telugu poetry is classified as
Upajaati only has yati but no praasa where as Jaati and Vruttaas contain both yati and prasaa.
There are 26 types of chandas. Each 'chandas' is recognized by the number of 'aksharaas' or Syllables present in each line of the poem. As an 'akshara' can be either a 'laghuvu' or a 'guruvu', the number of variations possible in each type of 'chandas' follows a 'binary system'. The names /numbers of 'chandas' and the numbers of 'sama Vruttaas' that can be generated in each variety are as follows.
# of chandasNameNo. of letters per line# of sama Vruttam possible
1Ukta12
2atyukta24
3Madhya38
4pratisTha416
5suprstisTha532
6gaayatri664
7ushTikku7128
8anusThuppu8256
9bRhati9512
10paMkti101,024
11trishTuppu112,048
12jagati124,096
13atijagati138,192
14Sakvari1416,384
15atiSakvari1532,768
16ashTi1665,536
17atyashTi17131,072
18dhRti18262,144
19atidhRti19524,288
20kRti201,048,576
21prakRti212,097,152
22aakRti224,194,304
23vikRti238,388,608
24sukRti2416,777,216
25abhikRti2533,554,432
26utkRti2667,108,864

The total number of sama Vruttaas in 26 chandassus is 134,217,726.

In [Kannada] Language

The poetrical works of Old Kannada and Middle Kannada followed the rules of Chandas given by Nagavarma I in the book Chandombudhi. Kannada prosody is classified into three parts:
  1. Prāsa
  2. Yati
  3. Gana

    Prāsa

Praasa or the rhyme scheme refers to the same consonant repeating periodically in each line. Again there are two types:
While reading the poetry, to breathe, we stop/pause at some places without damaging the meanings of the poem. These places were called Yati. There were some rules for this. However, the usage of 'Yati' is very less in Kannada literature.

Gana

Gana refers to a group. In Kannada prosody, Gana refers to the group of the syllables, letters, or units. There are three types:
One maatra means the time taken to pronounce a letter. Thus the gana classified on this basis is called as Maatra Gana. While classifying, the ganas are made of 3, 4 or 5 syllables.
There are two types of syllables as in Sanskrit prasody:
A letter is considered as Laghu when it does not have the above features.

Types of Kannada Chandassu (Based on ''Mātra'' Gana)

  1. Kanda
  2. Shatpadi
  3. RagaỊe

    Kanda Poem

It is special type of Kannada prosody. The poem has four lines, where 1st & 3rd lines and 2nd & 4th lines have same number of maatras. Each Gana used in kanda poem has four maatras.

Shatpadi

It is a poem having six lines. The first, second, fourth and fifth lines have equal numbers of Maatras and third and sixth lines have same no. of maatras. Each Gana used in Shatpadi may have 3,4 or 5 maatras.
There are six types of Shatpadi. Each type has different rules, features and characteristics. The types are:
Shara, Kusuma, Bhoga, Bhaamini, Parivardhini, and Vaardhaka.

RagaỊe

It is a poem having many lines. All lines have equal number of maatras. There are three types of Ragale. They are
Utsaaha , Mandanila and Lalita .

''Akshara'' Gana (ಅಕ್ಷರ ಗಣ)

Gana classified on the basis of letters or characters is known as Akshara Gana. The Akshara ganas are made of three letters or characters. A formula-sentence is used for this: ya-maa-taa-raa-ja-bhaa-na-sa-la-gam
Thus we get eight akshara ganas by this. The ganas are same as in Sanskrit Chandas. The ganas are
The poems written on the basis of Akshara gana are known as Vruttas. In Kannada Chandassu, there are six types of vruttas:
  1. Utpala Mālā
  2. Champaka Mālā
  3. Shārdūla Vikrīdita
  4. Mattebha Vikrīdita
  5. Sragdharā
  6. Mahā Sragdharā