[INDOLOGY] avagraha and sanskrit meter

[Nityanand Misra]

The *Vājasaneyi Prātiśākhya* mentions that:

*samāse’vagraho hrasvasamakālaḥ* (5.1)

“In [the padapāṭha of] a compound, the avagraha has the same time has a
hrasva vowel.”

The commentaries of Uvaṭa and Anantabhaṭṭa explain that the ‘avagraha’ is
separation of a compound into its constituent elements:

Uvaṭa: *dvayoḥ padayoḥ pṛthaggrahaṇo'vagrahaḥ। nānāgraha ityarthaḥ।
hrasvasamakālo hrasvākṣaratulyakālo bhavati।*
Anantabhaṭṭa: *avagraho nāma dvayoḥ padayoḥ pṛthakkaraṇam। sa ca
hrasvākṣarasamakālo bhavati।*

However, this applies to the *padapāṭha* and not to the *saṃhitāpāṭha*.

Nowadays, the *avagraha* sign is used to show what is called *akārapraśleṣa*
.

In Vedic *saṃhitāpāṭha* or in laukika poetry, the *avagraha* is not
considered a syllable for prosodic purposes.

For more on this, please refer the entry on अवग्रह (*avagraha*) in *A
Dictionary of Sanskrit Grammar* by K.V. Abhyankar

On 17 August 2016 at 05:14, Harry Spier <hspier.muktabodha at gmail.com> wrote:

> Clarification about my question.  What I meant to ask was  avagraha ever
> pronounced as a pause and if so was it considered a syllable in Sanskrit
> metrics.
>
> Thanks,
> Harry
>
> On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 6:12 PM, Harry Spier <hspier.muktabodha at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> In Sanskrit meter is avagraha ignored or is it considered as a short
>> syllable?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Harry Spier
>>
>
>
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-- 
Nityānanda Miśra
http://nmisra.googlepages.com


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