Sanskrit prosody

Sanskrit prosody or Chandas refers to one of the six <a href="/facts/Vedanga/FmfE5tDc">Vedangas</a>, or limbs of Vedic studies. It is the study of <a href="/facts/Metre_(poetry)/uIzxuQHA">poetic metres</a> and verse in <a href="/facts/Sanskrit/ychfjhlx">Sanskrit</a>. This field of study was central to the composition of the <a href="/facts/Vedas/yQgc8B2x">Vedas</a>, the scriptural canons of <a href="/facts/Hinduism/oxV9YvQh">Hinduism</a>; in fact, so central that some later Hindu and Buddhist texts refer to the Vedas as Chandas.
The Chandas, as developed by the Vedic schools, were organized around seven major metres, each with its own rhythm, movements and aesthetics. Sanskrit metres include those based on a fixed number of syllables per verse, and those based on fixed number of <a href="/facts/Morae/7uNR6X4c">morae</a> per verse.
Extant ancient manuals on Chandas include <a href="/facts/Pingala/Fb0rL6Ap">Pingala</a>'s Chandah Sutra, while an example of a medieval Sanskrit prosody manual is Kedara Bhatta's Vrittaratnakara. The most exhaustive compilations of Sanskrit prosody describe over 600 metres. This is a substantially larger repertoire than in any other metrical tradition.

Sanskrit prosody open-in-new

Sanskrit prosody