Vasudevavijaya of Vasudeva (Study)

by Sajitha. A | 2018 | 50,171 words

This page relates ‘Metres used in Vasudevavijaya’ of the study on the Vasudevavijaya of Vasudeva from the 11th century A.D. The Vasudevavijayam is an educational poem belonging to the Shastra-Kavya category of technical Sanskrit literature. The Vasudevavijayam depicts in 657 verses the story of Lord Krishna while also elucidates the grammatical rules of the Ashtadhyayi of Panini (teaching the science of grammar). The subject-content of the poem was taken from the tenth Skandha of the Bhagavatapurana.

Metre or Vṛtta is an integral part of a poetic composition. Sanskrit prosody or chandas refers to one of the six Vedāṅgas. It is the study of poetic metres and verse in Sanskrit. The metre constitutes the rhythm and melody in the compositions. At the same time some metres has related with the sentiments also. Vāsudeva has used different kinds of metres to depict the story of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

The first Canto made use the metres like Vaṃśastha, Indravaṃśa, Vasantatilaka, Śālinī, Upajāti, Indravajrā, etc. In the second Canto, Indravajrā, Upajātti, Indravaṃśa, Mandākrāntā are employed. Indravajrā, Vasantatilaka, Vaṃśastha, Indravaṃśā, Mālinī, Mandākrāntā, Hariṇī are the metres used in the third Canto. The fourth Canto is composed using Vasantatilaka, Indravaṃśā, Indravajrā, Upajāti and Śārdūlavikrīḍita. In this Canto some Viṣamavṛttas are also used along with metres.

The fifth Canto has made use of the metres like Upajāti, Vasantatilaka, Sragdharā, Vaṃśastha, Anuṣṭubh, Śārdūlavikrīḍita, Mandākrāntā, Śālinī etc. The Anuṣṭubh metre has found in excess in the sixth Canto. There are 190 verses in the sixth Canto and here 188 verses are composed in the Anuṣṭubh metre. The rest two verses employed the metre Śārdūlavikrīḍita.

Vāsudeva uses different metres in the seventh Canto. Some Viṣamavṛttas are used in this Canto. Then he uses multifarious metres(samavṛttas) when compared with other Cantos. Upajāti, Mandākrāntā, Indravaṃśā, Bhujaṅgaprayāta, Toṭaka, Svāgatā, Vasantatilaka, Vaṃśastha, Anuṣṭubh, Sragdharā, Atirucirā, Mālinī, Śārddūlavikrīḍita etc.

Thus it can be seen there a diversity in the application of metres in Vāsudevavijaya Even though it is a Śāstrakāvya, it qualifies the factors of a poetry also. As it possesses the characteristics of a poem, it retains the rhythm and melody of the poetic beauty. The metre used by him obviously uplift the charm of the poetry. But as it is a Śāstrakāvya, the sentiments and moods using the metres cannot be brought out to an extent.

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