Chandas

Terminology

स्वर/Svara =

  • All 16 Vowels, i.e अ/a to अ:/aḥ

व्यन्जन/Vyanjana =

  • All Consonants, i.e क/k to म/m

संयुक्ताक्षर/Samyukta-akshara =

  • letter composed by two or more vyanjana/consonants without any swara between them
  • क्ष, क्र, प्र, प्ल

ह्रस्व/Hrasva  =

  • Vowels takes shorter time to utter
  • अ , इ, उ, ऋ, ऌ/a, i, u, ṛ, ḷ

दीर्घ/Deergha =

  • Vowels taking longer to utter
  • आ, ई, ऊ, ऋृ, ॡ , ए, ऐ, ओ, औ/ ā,ī,ū,ṛṛ,ḹ,e,ai,ao,au

मात्र/Matra  =

  • time taken to utter one hrasva

लघु/Laghu  =

  • any letter that takes 1 matra to utter
  • a consonant without Vowel like म्/m or स्/s is not counted as a laghu and often combined with before akshara
  • indicated by ‘|’ on top/below letter in scriptures. Our website uses ‘plain’ font for easy identification

गुरु/Guru  =

  • any letter taking 2 matras to utter
  • indicated by on top/below in scriptures. Our website uses bold font for easy identidication
  • any letter that is Deergha is also a Guru
  • Samyuktakshara won’t become a Guru unless its succeeded by another Samyuktakshara

Laghu becomes Guru when  =

  • it is followed by a Samyuktakshara, eg: इष्ट/iṣṭa where इ/i which is a Laghu becomes Guru by borrowing ष्/ṣ from its following Samyuktakshara ष्ट/ṣṭa
  • it is follwed by Anusvara, eg: तं/taṃ
  • it is follwed by Visarga, eg: ल:/laḥ

Anushtup definition

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LGG
LGL
LGG
LGL

Sri Rama sloka

श्रीरामरामरामेतिरमेरामेमनोरमे
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śrīrāmarāmarāmetiramerāmemanorame
सहस्रनामतत्तुल्यम्रामनामवरानने
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sahasranāmatattulyaṃrāmanāmavarānane

Ganesha sloka

शुक्लाम्बरधरम्विष्णुम्शशिवर्णम्चतुर्भुजम्
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śuklāmbaradharamviṣṇumśaśivarṇamcaturbhujam
प्रसन्नवदनम्ध्यायेत्सर्वविघ्नोपशान्तये
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prasannavadanamdhyāyeतsarvavighnopaśāntaye

Devi sloka

यादेवीसर्वभूतेषुमातृरूपेणसम्स्थिता
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yādevīsarvabhūteṣumātṛrūpeṇasamsthitā
नमस्तस्यैनमस्तस्यैनमस्तस्यैनमोनमह्
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namastasyainamastasyainamastasyainamonamah