one or two extra syllables at the beginning of a line, before the metre proper begins.

indicates that the syllable may be heavy or light in the stated position. In the Pàëi canonical period the last syllable in a line is nearly always considered to be anceps, and sometimes the first syllable too, see pàdàdigaru & pàdantagaru.

euphonic change whereby one consonant takes the form of another which follows or precedes it e.g. ud + ghàta > ugghàta

the closing rhythm of a line, or pair of lines

having an incomplete number of syllables or mattà (opp: acatalectic, complete).

two (or more) consonants which are not seperated by a vowel e.g. -tt- in mettà, -ndr- in indriya

change from original two short vowels (usually seperated by a semivowel) to one long one e.g. aya > e, ava > o. This sometimes makes sense of otherwise metrically `wrong' verses.

used to refer to a naturally long vowel, not to be confused with garu (heavy) which refers to metrical weight

the loss of a syllable, or part of a syllable, at the beginning or end of a word (which sometimes happens m.c.)

the insertion of a vowel between two consonants for euphonic reasons, see sarabhatti

ease of pronounciation, see also sandhi

a division of a line of poetry, usually consisting of 3 syllables, see also gaõa

1) in gaõacchandas metre this refers to a bar normally consisting of 4 mattà, derived from musical structure. There are five such gaõas, which are given here with their Sanskrit and Greek names.

Note that magaõa has only 2 syllables here because there can be only 4 mattà to a bar in the gaõacchandas metres.

2) a division consisting of 3 syllables which are a kind of shorthand used to describe the vaõõavutta metres. There are 8 such gaõas which are used in classical Indian theory:

in the descriptions that occur in the Indian prosodies these are normally indicated as ja, bha, sa, etc.

Although these signs can be used to describe the alternation of heavy and light syllables quite accurately, they often disguise the underlying structure of the metres, so that e.g. Indavajirà is described as being ta ta ja ga ga, which when written out gives the pattern:

this gives the impression that there are rhythmic patterns in the metre which do not, in fact, appear. The structure is better defined like this:

which better reflects the rhythm.

variously translated as verse, stanza, or strophe. A gàthà normally consists of 4 lines, sometimes 6, though occasionally we come across a verse which is defective in this regard

literally singable, in the tradition signifies a type of composition of mixed prose and verse, some of which at least may have been `performed' to illustrate points of Buddhist doctrine or folklore. Sagàthavagga of Saüyuttanikàya contains many examples of geyya

omission of a syllable by accident when it appears twice in a word

in metre a syllable that is stressed or emphasized (ictus strictly speaking does not apply to Pàëi verse composition, but it is sometimes mentioned in the literature).

literally a measure, light syllables are counted as one mattà, heavy ones as two

there are about 400 verses in mattàchandas metre in the canon

exchange of syllabic position e.g. kariyà > kayirà

refers to the mattàchandas and gaõacchandas metres which have been derived under the influence of musical structures

refers to the mattàchandas, gaõacchandas, and fixed vaõõavutta metres

the beginning section of a line, may be followed by a break and cadence as in Tuññhubha and related metres, or simply by a cadence as in Siloka and the mattàchandas metres

a line of verse

a light syllable that is counted as heavy because it stands at the beginning of a line (this is sometimes seen in early gaõacchandas verses)

verse (as opposed to gajja [gadya], prose)

a naturally short vowel, not to be confused with lahu, which refers to metrical weight

a syllable extra to the metre

a phonetic change whereby a semi-vowel is reduced to its vowel equivalent e.g. ya > ã; va > å

refers to the junction between words, and the euphonic changes that take place accordingly

can be defined as a word, or a part of a word, which can be uttered with a single effort of the voice

also sometimes used as a generic name for any metre having 11 syllables to the line

sometimes loosely referred to as Tuññhubha

sometimes loosely referred to as Jagatã

a fixed syllablic metre, vaõõavutta type 2

the weight of a syllable

a word break (not a pause as sometimes stated). Occasionally the word break is hidden or concealed (avyakata) in a compound