[INDOLOGY] The viyoginī metre

[Roland Steiner]

Dear Arlo.

> On p. 470, Zoetmulder 1974 (Kalangwan: A survey of Old Javanese  
> literature) cites a few occurrences from the 9th-c. Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa  
> and associates the name Prabodhitā with this meter. I haven't  
> attempted to track down his source for this name.

Hemacandra refers to this metre in his Chando'nusāsāna (3.14) as "prabodhitā".

* * *


The Viyoginī/Prabodhitā is, in a sense, a "frozen" form of the  
Vaitālīya metre, which is defined as follows:

3x2 mātrās plus ra la ga; 4x2 mātrās plus ra la ga.

The corresponding varṇavṛttas are the Viyoginī metre and the  
Aparavaktra metre.

Viyoginī: sa sa ja ga ; sa bha ra la ga

◡ ◡ — / ◡ ◡ —  / ◡ —  ◡ / —
◡ ◡ — / —  ◡ ◡ / —  ◡ —  / ◡ —  (analysed as the varṇavṛtta "Viyoginī")

=

◡ ◡ / —  / ◡ ◡/  —  ◡ — / ◡  —
◡ ◡ / — / —  / ◡ ◡ / —  ◡ —  / ◡ — (analysed as the mātrāvṛtta "Vaitālīya")


* * *

Aparavaktra: na na ra la ga ; na ja ja ra

◡ ◡ ◡ / ◡ ◡ ◡ / —  ◡ — / ◡ —
◡ ◡ ◡ / ◡ —  ◡ / ◡ —  ◡ / —  ◡ —  ( analysed as the varṇavṛtta "Aparavaktra")

=

◡ ◡ / ◡  ◡ / ◡ ◡ / —  ◡ — / ◡ —
◡ ◡ / ◡  ◡ / —  / ◡  ◡  /—  ◡  —  / ◡ —  (analysed as the mātrāvṛtta  
Vaitālīya)


"When such a metre has the same akṣaragaṇas in both the halves as  
above [that is, as in the metres Mālabhāriṇī, Viyoginī, and  
Aparavaktra], it should be considered as a varṇavṛtta; otherwise it  
should be regarded as a mātrāvṛtta." (H. D. Velankar)

Best,
Roland