Namaste and greetings

Bharata's Nātyaśāstra 18.76 (and Bhoja's Śṛṅgāraprakāśa 11.248) mentions usage of metres like gāyatrī, uṣṇik, etc. (except for Udbhaṭa who reads kavibhirnaiva prayojyāni as mentioned in abhinavabhārati itself). Other works like Rāmacandra & Guṇacandra's Nāṭyadarpaṇa specifically mention about avoiding these metres and insist upon usage of sragdhara, etc., (padyaṃ ca sragdharādikam 2.15) longer metres. They themselves clarify the same in auto-commentary as -

padyaṃ ca sragdharādikaṃ, ādiśabdādbahvakṣaraṃ śārdūlādi ojoguṇayuktaṃ gr̥hyate, na punargāyatryādi. tena hi bahvarthābhidhāne kliṣṭatā syāt. *kecit punaralpākṣaraṃ gāyatryādikamardhasama-viṣamādikaṃ cātra padyaṃ manyante*

One of the reasons I suspect upon the insistence of using longer and non-Vedic metres is the employment of kaiśikī vṛtti and śṛṅgāra as main sentiment in samavakāra.
For those who insist on the use of Vedic metres, it can be explained through reasoning that the nāyaka of samavakāra is divine (a god or demon, except in Daśarūpaka, which allows even a human to be the nāyaka) and Vedic metre like uṣṇik, gāyatrī can create an air of divinity.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,
Vyom A. Shah

On Thu, Jan 2, 2025 at 3:40 PM Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman) via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear list members,

In the description of the samavakāra the Nāṭyaśāstra (18, 76) mentions that in this type of play the uṣṇik, gāyatrī and and other uneven/complex metres should be used (or should, instead, be avoided (vl. kavibhir naiva prayojyāni):

uṣṇig gāyatryādyānyanyāni ca yāni bandhakuṭilāni
vr̥ttāni samavakāre kavibhis tāni prayojyāni

The "classic" example of the samavakāra (NŚ 4, 4) is the Amr̥tamanthana, in which gods and demons violently compete for possession of the amr̥ta. Can someone enlighten me of what is so special about the uṣṇik and gāyatrī metres (and those of the bandhakuṭila type) that they should be used or, instead, be avoided in a play of the samavakāra type.

With kind regards,
Herman


Herman Tieken
Stationsweg 58
2515 BP Den Haag
The Netherlands
00 31 (0)70 2208127

The Aśoka Inscriptions: Analysing a corpus, New Delhi: Primus Books, 2023.



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Vyom A. Shah
Blogs: https://svyoma.github.io/blogs & https://the-vak.github.io
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Initiatives: Saṃskṛta Hitāya, Prākṛta Hitāya & Jaina Literature