[INDOLOGY] Does anyone know of Sanskrit works that use 2nd-syllable rhyming?

[naresh keerthi]

Hello all,

The use of second syllable rhyme [that the Kannada grammar kavirAjamarga
calls Adi-prAsa, and anomalously referred to as dvitIyAkSara-prAsa in later
texts ] is indeed a feature particular to South India.

Another compulsory feature of SI poetry [classical poetry in Kannada,
Tamil, Telugu for sure, I don't know enough about Malayalam classical
poetry] is the marking of the yati caesura by a feature called
akSara-maitri, wherein the first letter of the line and the letter after
the caesura are same, or similar.

This feature of poetry seems to have eventually percolated into
recitative/performative forms that were half-way between poems and songs,
as well as into genres that were entirely song like.

However it would be useful if someone can point to a treatise that
prescribes such features for the song-like genres. the kavi-rAja-marga does
set the rules down for verse in Kannada in certain terms. I am inclined to
believe that there must be separate if related rules for the composition of
poetry and song, even if the genres are somewhat related.

The songs of muttuswAmi dIkSita [18th Century] that Indira Peterson
discusses, are coming as part of a long tradition of kIrtana song genres
that have followed the prAsa rule with various degrees of rigour, from the
15th century onwards. dIkSita indeed follows the practise of Adi-prAsa and
yati religiously.

dIkSita's contemporary SwAti tirunAl, a literary-minded ruler of Travancore
put together a manual  with rules for musical compositions titled
muhanaprAsa-antaprAsa-vyavasthA.

The example given from the BhAgavata - the gopika gItam [jayati te'dhikam
etc..] is not really an akSara-vRtta. Neither is Jayadeva's magnum opus.
Nor are the Apabhramsa gItis that Prof Tieken refers to,  or the songs of
muttuswAmi dikSita.


I have been collecting examples of  (Sanskrit) verses that demonstrate such
Southern features as Adi-prAsa and/or aksara-maitri for yati. As was
pointed out in the essay by Shulman and Bronner, such examples abound in
the Sanskrit poetry of South Indian Sanskrit poets; who had significant
exposure to non-Sanskrit classical literature.

Examples can be found in the stotra literature, in Jagannatha PanditarAja,
VenkaTanatha and so on.

Find below one such example from the end of NArAyaNa BhaTTa's MAnameyodaya
-

kRSNo' vibudhAdhipatir
niSNAto vitaraNeSu vidyAyAH |
muSNAtu hRdaya-timiram
puSNAtu sakalAni ca maGgalAni || abhAva-nirNaya verse #6 ||


Best,
Naresh Keerthi,
National Institute of Advanced Studies,
Bangalore


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