Mudrarakshasa (literary study)
by Antara Chakravarty | 2015 | 58,556 words
This page relates ‘Use of Arya metre’ of the English study on the Mudrarakshasa: an ancient Sanskrit dramatic play (Nataka) authored by Vishakhadatta which deals with the life of king Chandragupta. This study investigates the Mudra Rakshasa from a literary perspective, such as metrics, themes, rhetorics and other poetical elements. Chandragupta ruled the Mauryan Empire during the 4th century BCE, hence this text can also be studied as a historical textbook of ancient India.
2.18. Use of Āryā metre
[Full title: The Chandas employed in Mudrārākṣasa (17). Puṣpitāgrā]
This meter belongs to the class of chandass regulated by the number of mātrās or syllabic instants. The definition of āryā runs thus—
yasyā pāde prathame dvādaśa mātrāstathā tṛtīyepi/
aṣṭādaśa dvitīye caturthake pañcadaśa sāryā//[1]
This indicates that when there remain 12 syllabic instants in the first as well as in the third quarter of a verse, eighteen in the second quarter and fifteen in the fourth quarter then the meter there is Āryā. Therefore it is a Viṣamavṛtta type of meter as, here; all the quarters contain different number of syllabic instants. It is worth mentioning here that while counting a syllabic instant a short vowel is counted as one and a long vowel is counted as two.
In Mudrārākṣasa this meter has been employed not less than 27 times. Let us cite an instance amongst them. Cf.—
guṇavatyupāyanilaye sthitihetoḥ sādhike trivargasya/
madbhavananītividhe kāryācārye drutamupehi//[2]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Śrutabodha, verse-4
[2]:
Mudrārākṣasa, I.5