5/12/2021 0 Comments Gathas Buddhist
There are many stras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajpramit stras.If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page.
Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article. The term gth () occurs in the g-veda meaning usually a song or verse. The gths, though religious in content, are not mantras and hence are non-Vedic. In the avamedha sacrifice, as described in the Brhmaas, we find mention of two lute-prayers, a Brahmin and a warrior, who in verses of their own composition (gths), glorified the generosity and war-like deeds of the sacrificer and his ancestors. With the fate of the avamedha, recitation of such gths also seems to have gone out of existence. The eighteen mahapuranas total over 400,000 shlokas (metrical couplets) and date to at least several centuries BCE. Pigala gives the definition of gth metres in the 8th chapter in 19 stras, where he discusses 18 gth metres. He says the metres which are not discussed in previous chapters is called as gth metres. He discusses the Gthprakaraa and other mtr metres in the second chapters. Totally 44 metres in 67 verses are described in the second chapter. A Mtrvtta (e.g., gth ) refers to a type of metre found in classical Sanskrit poetry. It seems very probable that it was developed out of the epic Anuubh. It is interesting to note in this connection that according to a tradition of the older metricians followed also by Hemacandra, any metre which does not follow the laws governing the regular metres and hence cannot be included in any one of them, is to be called Gth. On the other hand, we get 26 varieties of a Gth if we base our division upon the number of short letters which they contain. The smallest number of short letters which a Gth may contain is 3 and such a Gth is called Kamal; the largest number of short letters which it might contain is 55 and then it is called Gaur. Gti is made with two first halves of a Gth, Upagti with two second halves of it and Udgti is nothing but an inverted or a reversed Gth. Nandithya (Gthlakaa, vv. Gti, Upagti and Udgti respectively Udgtha, Gtha and Vigtha. Nandithyas names are perhaps the older ones and are also adopted by Pigala at I.48, 49, 60-63. The science of prosody (chandas-shastra) focusses on the study of the poetic meters such as the commonly known twenty-six metres mentioned by Pingalas. Accordingly, the dhruv is so called, because in it words, varas, alakra, tempo ( laya ), jti and pis are regularly ( dhruva ) connected with one another. It also teaches the rules for composing dramatic plays ( nataka ) and poetic works ( kavya ). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language.
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