( The CH in this name is pronounced like 'ch' in 'chunk'or 'chair'. The D is pronounced like 'th'in 'that'. The word Chandas is singular. )
Please see the link 'shloka'too.
Usually, a poem consists of four lines. The first two lines are named 'first half' or poorvaartha' (poorva=former, artha=half) and the last two lines are called 'second half' or 'uththaraartha'(uththara=later, artha=half). As far as possible, the sense should be complete in each half. A word,including a compund word, cannot stretch over the second and third lines. That is, there must be a definite ending of a word or a compound word at the end of the second line.
As is written above, there are 26 chandas in Samskrithams. Each has its own name. Any metrical composition, ie poem, consists of two types of syllables. A syllable is defined as a single unit of pronounciation, depending on the time taken for its pronunciation . There are primarily two syllables. One, Laghu or the short (corresponding to pronunciation of short vowels in English) and the other Guru or the long ( corresponding to pronunciation of long vowels in english). One Guru is equal to two Laghus. A laghu at the end of a stanza can be taken a s a Guru. Other types of still longer syllables named Drutham, Plutham etc are technically defined but their use occurs only in the recital of Vedas or in discussions of pure grammar. Symbollically, a Guru is termed 'Ga' and a Laghu is termed 'La'. The combinations of these two are named 'GA GA' or 'GAA'( UU ), 'GA LA' (U| ), 'LA GA' or 'VA'( |U ) and 'LA LA'or 'LAA'( || ) .
A poem written in a particular chandas should consist of that number of syllables in a line, as the number of that chandas itself. And the syllables can be either Laghu or Guru. This rule gives rise to the most possible number of compositions in a particular chandas. For example, in the tenth chandas, a line should contain ten syllables. Each of these ten syllables can be of two types, either Laghu or Guru. Thus, The total possible permutations will be 2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2 or 2 raised to power ten ie 1024. but, out of all the possible ones, only a few are in vogue. Interestingly, each of the possible composition is given a name of its own, which ia a unique feature of the language.
For the sake of interesting the young readers, I give below the names of the 26 chandas, the maximum possible number of compositions in each chandas and the sum total of all the possible compositions of all the 26 chandas together. It will be of curiousity to see the mathematical theme of Permutations behind this.
It is a common practice to learn by rote the sequenctial order of the syllables in the metre , to remember its rhythem. For the sake of convenience, a group of three syllables is taken as a unit. Each such group is called GANA (=group) . As can be clear , there can be eight possible groups of three syllables. They are as following.
In fact, all these three-syllable groups belong to one category of groups named 'Indra'. Besides these groups, there are other groups named "Chandra" and "Soorya" too.
Please note, all this is about one sect of compositions named 'regular' compositions, meaning those that have the s-a-m-e number of the syllables in the s-a-m-e order, in each line.
There is another sect of compositions named 'irregular' compositions which means that these compositions are based not on the order of the syllables, but on the count of the syallables in each line which vary from line to line. In addition to this vast metrical system of Samskritham, Thelugu has its own metres with their own names. All these metres are widely used by all the well-known poets.The ancient poets were known for their mastery over employing various meters dextrously, but in modern times, I believe, it was Vishvanaatha Sathyanaaraayana that could employ a variety of metres in his compositions. His magnum opus Raamaayanakalpavriksham consists of many different metres.
The aim behind elaborating this much about metre , is not to confuse the readers, but to make them aware of the rich literature we have since thousands of years. Any interested reader may find full details in any book on metre. Suggested are Vriththarathnaakaram in Samskritham, chandodarpanam and Appakaveeyam in Thelugu.
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In Samskritham, the meter is called 'chandas'. Poems are written in Chandas . Chandas is not applicable to prose. There are 26 different meters ( chandas)in Samakritham. Every Chandas has that number of syllables in a line as the number of the Chandas itself. That is, a composition in tenth chandas will have ten syllables in a line.
Serial Number (n) Name of Chandas Number of possible compositions (Equal to 2 power n) 1 Uktha 2 2 Athyuktha 4 3 Madhyama 8 4 16 5 32 6 64 7 128 8 256 9 512 10 1 024 11 2 048 12 4 096 13 8 192 14 16 384 15 32 768 16 65 536 17 1 31 072 18 2 62 144 19 5 24 288 20 10 48 576 21 20 97 152 22 41 94 304 23 83 88 608 24 1 67 77 216 25 3 35 54 432 26 6 71 08 864 Total Total possible compositions 13 42 17 726
"After praying to Naaraayana, Nara, Sarasvathi and Vyaasa, then one should read the Jayam."
DEDICATED TO MY DEAR NIECE VYSHNAVI KRISHNA