Lesson 95: Eight Syllables
Index · Lesson 94: The Visarga in Speech · Lesson 96: A Morning
A śloka has four quarters. A common quarter has eight syllables. School calls the meter अनुष्टुभ्, and the quarter a पाद. Which seat inside the eight must be heavy waits on the later list. Lesson 115: Eight and Eleven says what makes one syllable heavy, and it counts a quarter of eleven. This lesson only counts eight.
The line is the opening quarter of the भगवद्गीता. The poem is read in that book. Here the line is only a count.
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे.
| Syllable | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | धर् | म | क्षे | त्रे | कु | रु | क्षे | त्रे |
धर्म means “duty,” or “the right.” क्षेत्रम् means “a field,” and it follows पुस्तकम्. The in-form is क्षेत्रे. कुरु is the name of a people. “On the field of dharma, on the Kuru field.”
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| धर्म | duty. The stem inside the compound. |
| क्षेत्रे | on the field |
| कुरु | Kuru |
| क्षेत्रे | on the field |
Eight syllables, then the next quarter would begin. Four such quarters make one śloka. The words of lines people recite stay on Common chants.
Practice
- Count धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे on your fingers, eight taps.
- Say क्षेत्रम्, क्षेत्रे, “a field,” “on the field.”
- Say that a śloka has four quarters.
Next
Lesson 96: A Morning is a short reading.