A is a category of verse line

Line (poetry)

A line is a unit of language into which a poem or play is divided, which operates on principles which are distinct from and not necessarily coincident with grammatical structures, such as the sentence or clauses in sentences...

 developed from the Vedic Anuṣṭubh

Anuṣṭubh

' is the name of a meter and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences.By origin, an anuṣṭup stanza is a quatrain of four lines. Each line, called a pāda ' is the name of a meter and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical...

. It is the basis for Indian Epic verse, and may be considered the Indian verse form par excellence, occurring, as it does, far more frequently than any other meter in classical Sanskrit poetry. The Mahabharata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

and Ramayana

Ramayana

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...

, for example, are written almost exclusively in shlokas. The traditional view is that this form of verse occurred to Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, on seeing a hunter shoot down one of two birds in love.

The shloka is treated as a couplet. Each hemistich

Hemistich

A hemistich is a half-line of verse, followed and preceded by a caesura, that makes up a single overall prosodic or verse unit. In Classical poetry, the hemistich is generally confined to drama. In Greek tragedy, characters exchanging clipped dialogue to suggest rapidity and drama would speak in...

 (half-verse) of 16 syllables can take either a pathyā ("normal") form or one of several vipulā ("extended") forms, as in the scheme bellow.



The Pathyā and Vipulā half-verses are arranged in the table above in order of frequency of occurrence. Out of 2579 half-verses taken from Kalidasa

Kalidasa

Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...

, Magha

Magha (poet)

Magha was a Sanskrit poet at King Varmalata's court at Srimala, the-then capital of Gujarat . Magha was son of Dattaka Sarvacharya and grandson of Suprabhadeva...

, Bharavi

Bharavi

Bharavi was a Sanskrit poet known for his Mahakavya , the Kirātārjunīya in 18 cantos based on an episode from the Mahabharata.-Time and place:...

, and Bilhana

Bilhana

Bilhana Kavi was an 11th-century Kashmiri poet. He is known for his love poem, the Caurapâñcâśikâ.According to legend, the Brahman Bilhana fell in love with the daughter of King Madanabhirama, Princess Yaminipurnatilaka, and had a secretive love affair. They were discovered, and Bilhana was thrown...

, each of the four admissible forms of shloka in the above order claims the following share: 2289, 116, 89, 85.

The metrical constraints on a hemistich in terms of its two constituent pādas are as follows:

• General

1. The 1st and 8th syllables of both pādas are anceps
   Anceps
   In Greek and Latin meter, an anceps syllable is a syllable in a metrical line which can be either short or long. An anceps syllable may be called "free" or "irrational" depending on the type of meter being discussed....
   
   .
2. The 2nd and 3rd syllables cannot both be light (laghu, "⏑") in either pāda; i.e. one or both of the 2nd and 3rd syllables must be heavy (guru, "–") in both pādas.
3. Syllables 2-4 of the second pāda cannot be a ra-gaṇa (the pattern "– ⏑ –")
4. Syllables 5-7 of the second pāda must be a ja-gaṇa ("⏑ – ⏑") This enforces an iambic cadence.
   • Normal form (pathyā)
5. Syllables 5-7 of the first pāda must be a ya-gaṇa ("⏑ – –")
   • Variant forms (vipulā): The 4th syllable of the first pāda is heavy. In addition, one of the following is permitted:
6. na-vipulā: Syllables 5-7 are a na-gaṇa ("⏑ ⏑ ⏑")
7. bha-vipulā: Syllables 2-7 are ra-bha gaṇas ("– ⏑ – – ⏑ ⏑") or ma-bha gaṇas with a caesura in between ("– – – , – ⏑ ⏑")
8. ma-vipulā: Syllables 2-7 are ra-ma gaṇas with a caesura after the 5th ("– ⏑ – – , – –")
9. ra-vipulā: Syllables 5-7 are a ra-gaṇa following a caesura (", – ⏑ –")

Noteworthy is the avoidance of an iambic cadence in the first pāda. By comparison, Syllables 5-7 of any pāda in the old Vedic anuṣṭubh is typically a ja-gaṇa ("⏑ – ⏑"), or a dijambus.

An example of an anuṣṭubh stanza which fails the classical requirements of a shloka is from the Shatapatha Brahmana

Shatapatha Brahmana

The Shatapatha Brahmana is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual, associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina and Kanva , with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyayas,7624 kandikas in 14 books, and the latter 104 adhyayas,6806 kandikas in 17...

āsandīvati dhānyādaṃ rukmiṇaṃ haritasrajam

abadhnādaśvaṃ sārańgaṃ devebhyo janamejaya

"In Āsandîvat, Janamejaya bound for the gods a black-spotted, grain-eating

horse, adorned with a golden ornament and with yellow garlands."