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Today's Topics:
1. RE: shlokalakshhaNaM (Vikram Santurkar)
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 10:14:10 -0800
From: "Vikram Santurkar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: [Sanskrit] shlokalakshhaNaM
To: "peekayar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Jay Vaidya"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "sanskrit digest" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Namaste
Agree with PKR's explanation regarding shloka etymology. However, stotra is usually
associated with praise [stuti] to any deity.
There are several related words on this thread - shloka, stotra, prAthana etc. used in
describing verse.
bhavdIyaH
vikramaH
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of peekayar
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:35 AM
To: Jay Vaidya; sanskrit digest
Subject: Re: [Sanskrit] shlokalakshhaNaM
Comments by P.K.Ramakrishnan
I am reproducing a part from Sri Dhanajay's
posting.
"Though this etymology is a little suspect, the word "shloka" is said to come from the
word "shoka" meaning sorrow. Apparently this is because the first shloka was uttered
in sorrow by vAlmiiki to curse a hunter who killed one of a pair of courting birds:
mA nishAda pratishhThAM tvam-
agamaH shAshvatIH samAH |
yatkrauMchamithunAdekam-
avadhIH kAmamohitam || "
My comments-
Shloka has not come from the word shoka
though it had been uttered because of shoka.
Shloka means praise. shoka means sorrow.
The word anuShThibh also contains the root
stubh meaning to praise. That is why either of
these two words are used meaning a particular
type of metre.
When Valmiiki uttered this verse because of his
sorrow seeing the hunter shooting down the bird
it was a curse on the hunter -
"Dont attain glory for all time to come since
you killed the amourous one of the krouncha pair"
He later he thought that it was not a good statement (being a curse) to begin the
Ramayana, the aadikaavya.
He told his disciples -
paadabaddho.akSarasamaM
tantriilayasamanvitam /
shokaartasya pravR^itto me
shloko bhavatu naanyathaa //
Let what is begun my me who was distressed
by sorrow, composed in paadaas of equal
letters and having the fusion of strings,
become a shloka. Not otherwise.
So it becomes a (shloka) praise. How?
Read this -
"mAniShAda pratishhThAM tvam-
agamaH shAshvatIH samAH |
yatkrauMchamithunAdekam-
avadhIH kAmamohitam || "
mAniShAda = shrInivAsa
mA = ShrI. niShad = ni + sad (sad to stay)
(after ni sad becomes Shad. niShad > niShAda
The same way as ni+vas > nivAsa
Now this sloka is addressed to ShrInivAsa.
He! shInivAsa! Attain glory for all time to come since you killed the amourous one of
the krouncha pair".
Here krouncha pair refers to rAvaNa and his wife.
VAlmIki is said to be the Adikavi. So this shloka
becomes the first Shloka in his kAvyam.
There is a convention that the first verse of a
kAvya should conform to the following.
AshIrnamaskriyA vastunirdesho vApi tanmukham.
It should be a (1) benediction or (2) prayer or
(3)a statement of the existence of a thing.
Here in Ramayana it is (1) - pratiShThAm agamaH.
In Raghuvamsham it is (2) - pitarau vande
In Kumarasambhavam it is 3) - astyuttarasyaam
dishi himaalayaH.
More of my comments on shloka will be
posted later.
P.K.Ramakrishnan
Jay Vaidya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The 5-6-7 syllable related rule is for anushhTup only.
A shloka is not necessarily anushhTup. However, unless
stated otherwise the word is often used loosely for
anushhTup.
The following verse also uses "shloka" in the
synechdochic anushhTup meaning:
(another shlokalakshhaNa shloka!)
shloke shhashhTaM guru GYeyaM
sarvatra laghu paJNchamam |
dvichatushhpAdayorhrasvaM
saptamaM dIrghamanyayoH ||
(Note that the versewriter means laghu and guru when
saying hrasva and dIrgha, respectively.)
Though this etymology is a little suspect, the word
"shloka" is said to come from the word "shoka" meaning
sorrow. Apparently this is because the first shloka
was uttered in sorrow by vAlmiki to curse a hunter who
killed one of a pair of courting birds:
mA nishhAda pratishhThAM tvam-
agamaH shAshvatIH samAH |
yatkrauMchamithunAdekam-
avadhIH kAmamohitam ||
(A mild reproach so typical for the gentle vAlmiki :
"May you not achieve advancement for many long years!"
Even if "advancement" means reaching heaven, compare
it with the kinds of curses durvAsas and vishvAmitra
dole out.)
While the shoka->shloka etymology may be questionable,
notice that the verse that inspired the story is in
fact anushhTup.
Just to remind us:
A. guru syllables:
1) contain a dIrgha vowel (no matter what follows)
2) contain a hrasva vowel followed by a conjoint
consonant
3) contain a hrasva vowel followed by a halaMta,
anusvAra or visarga
4) contain a hrasva vowel that is the end of a word
(optionally guru or laghu).
B. laghu syllables
1. Are hrasva except for the exceptions above.
2. contain a hrasva vowel that is the end of a word
(optionally guru or laghu).
As for those of us coming at the guru-laghu
def initions from pANini-grammer rather than
chhandaHshAstra-prosody, we must be aware that rules
A3, A4, and B2 are specific to prosody and do not
apply to grammar.
Dhananjay
> From: Sai
> Subject: [Sanskrit] Sloka lakShaNam
> Does Sloka always mean anuShTup chhandas?
> Is this the definition of anuShTup, or all Slokas?
> From: Sai
> Subject: [Sanskrit] mandAkrAnta vR^ittaH
> BTW,
> guru (g) = (big) a letter with more than one mAtra
> (e.g., kaa, kI, ke, kaM)
> laghu (l) = (small) a letter with one mAtra (e.g.,
> ka)
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