The Sanskrit term śloka (श्लोक; also anglicized as shloka or sloka) specifically denotes a metered and often rhymed poetic verse or phrase. Shloka has become equated with Hindu prayer and is often comparable to a proverb and hymn of praise to be sung or chanted in liturgy. Shloka are generally composed in a specified meter, typically part of stotras. It also connotes and has come to mean a proverb and a form of prayer throughout Indian religions having arisen in the Vedas.
The most common form in classical (post-Vedic) poetry is the anustubh, a verse of four padas (feet), each of eight syllables. Use of anustubhs became prevalent to the point of "shloka" often being used as a synonym of "anustubh". Anustubhs are the primary verse form of the Sanskrit epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana.[1] 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.
See also
Notes
- ^ A Dictionary of Hinduism, Stutley (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers) 2002, p.282
References
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This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009) |
- Meaning of sloka
- Dictionary of Buddhism
- A Dictionary of Hinduism, Stutley (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers) 2002 ISBN 81 215 1074 0
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