Kannada meter (poetry)
Encyclopedia
Kannada prosody is the study of metres
used in Kannada poetry
, describing the rhythmic structure
of a verse. The metres used include some metres borrowed from other traditions, and indigenous metres. Kannada literature, especially Old Kannada poetry, clearly exhibits the importance poets placed on metre. This can be seen in the number of types of metre used in Kannada poetry.
wrote a fairly complete work on prosody , called Chandombudhi. With a few additions by later writers, it still remains a standard work on Kannada prosody.
poems are composed in these metres. There are also Amsha Shatpadis.
Modern Kannada poets use flexible metrical structure, sometimes completely neglecting rhythm patterns and focusing completely on the emotional value of lyric. These lyrics are being studied and new patterns inherent in them are being formalized.
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
used in Kannada poetry
Kannada poetry
Kannada poetry is poetry written in the Kannada language spoken in Karnataka. Karnataka is the land that gave birth to eight Jnanapeeth award winners, the highest honour bestowed for Indian literature...
, describing the rhythmic structure
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
of a verse. The metres used include some metres borrowed from other traditions, and indigenous metres. Kannada literature, especially Old Kannada poetry, clearly exhibits the importance poets placed on metre. This can be seen in the number of types of metre used in Kannada poetry.
History
The earliest Kannada work on prosody was the Guṇagānkiyam, which has been lost. Nagavarma INagavarma I
Nagavarma I was a noted Jain writer and poet in the Kannada language in the late 10th century. His two important works, both of which are available are, Karnataka Kadambari, a champu based romance novel and an adaptation of Bana's Sanskrit Kadambari, and Chandombudhi Nagavarma I (c. 990) was...
wrote a fairly complete work on prosody , called Chandombudhi. With a few additions by later writers, it still remains a standard work on Kannada prosody.
Subdivisions
Kannada metres are categorised as Amsha and Maatra (syllabic and quantitatitve), or as Vaidika and Laukika metres.Amsha metres
Amsha metres are based on Amsha or a unit consisting of short or long syllables which may be extended to modify time required to pronounce them. Amshas are named as Brahma,Vishnu and Rudra based on number of Amshas in it: 2,3 or 4, respectively. Tripadi, Sangatya and some Amsha Shatpadi belog to Amsha metre category. Kannada vachanas and YakshaganaYakshagana
Yakshagana is a musical theater popular in the coastal and Malenadu regions of Karnataka, India. Yakshagana is the recent scholastic name for what are known as kēḷike, āṭa, bayalāṭa, bayalāṭa, daśāvatāra . It is believed to have evolved from pre-classical music and theatre during Bhakti movement...
poems are composed in these metres. There are also Amsha Shatpadis.
Maatra metres
Maatra metres are based on Maatras. A Maatra is a unit of time. One Maatra is denoted as U and is called Laghu. Two Maatra is denoted as -. There are a set of rules to decide if a letter in a poem takes one or two Maatra time. Maatra Shatpadi and Ragale, for example belong to this group. Harichandra Kavya, Jaimini Bharata are poems composed in these metres.Vaidika metres
Vaidika metres are based on Sanskrit Vedic metres such as Vaidika Anustup,Gayatri and Tristup etc. These are Akshara metres or syllabic metres based on number of syllables and lines.Laukika metres
Laukika metres are Vaidika metres used in a more constrained manner to instill more rhythmic regularity. Anustup is an example. The Sanskrit Ramayana by Valmiki is composed in Laukika Anustup metre. There are very few poems composed in Kannada in these metres and this category is mostly of academic interest in Kannada.Popular indigenous metres
- RagaleRagaleRagale is a type of meter in Kannada prosody that is used in Kannada poetry.This meter can usually have as many padas of syllables divided into two groups of various fixed number of matra in each line...
- ShatpadiShatpadiShatpadi is a type of meter in Kannada prosody that is used in Kannada poetry.This meter can usually have six padas of syllables divided into groups of various fixed number of matra in each line. It is the most prevalent meter of the Middle Kannada poets Raghavanka, Kumaravyasa and...
- Dwipadi
- TripadiTripadiTripadi is a metre in the Kannada language dating back to c. 700 CE.-Definition:...
- Chaupadi
- Saangatya
Modern Kannada metres
- Sarala Ragale
Modern Kannada poets use flexible metrical structure, sometimes completely neglecting rhythm patterns and focusing completely on the emotional value of lyric. These lyrics are being studied and new patterns inherent in them are being formalized.