APPLIED CHANDAS

(Alathoor Vijayakumar)


CHANDAS or PROSODY is defined as the science of versification. That is, when
sentences are formed in verse form, certain rules have to be followed to maintain the
metre or the rhythmic timings as well as the rhyme. This booklet shows how Chandas
can be applied to composing, teaching and rendering carnatic music for bringing out the
correct meanings. As a corollary this paper will also show how wrong usage of timings
for the sake of maintaining the thalam can sometimes totally distort the meaning of the
lyric.
As mentioned above Chandas designates the exact length of time for which each
syllable is to be sustained. For this there are a few simple rules to be followed, which
are as follows.
1. All words are built up of two types of syllables.
a. The short syllable known as 'Laghu'. This is supposed to be sustained for about
1/5
th
of a second for achieving normal speaking speed. A short syllable is called a
'hrasvam'. A laghu is identified by the sign (|) above the relevant syllable.
b. The long syllable called a 'Guru' which has to be sustained for 2/5
th
of a second.
This is known as a drgha. A guru is identified by the sign (U).
2. Syllables ending with "am" or" an" are guru-s.
e.g. in TeLp [pogal] Te [po] is a guru
3. The Syllable before a "double" consonant is a guru.
e.g. In LlT [karupp] [ru] is a guru and in AdL [akk] A [a] is a guru
although the relevant letters are themselves hrasva-s which are normally Laghu-s as
per rule no.1. This rule 3. does not apply when the "double" consonant is the first
syllable of the next word.

Let us now see how Chandas can be applied to analyse lyrics to help to achieve
correct pronunciation.
U | | | U |
v ri ja bha v a

meaning one born in a lotus, in other words, refers to Brahma.
The above is a phrase from Tygarja Krti "r Rmapdam" in Amrtavhini. The total
number of Aksarakla-s for this phrase is as follows.

v = 2(U), ri = (1) ; ja = (1) ; bha = (1) v = (U) ; a= (1)

Thus the total number of aksarakla-s for this phrase is 2+ 1 + 1 + 1 + 2+ 1 = 8 and
this makes it ideal for di-tlam. The phrase consists of one Guru followed by three
Laghus then a Guru extended by one aksaraklam. Such an extension of an already long
syllable for any length of time is permissible as this does not affect the meaning. In fact
this technique is used to achieve the correct tlam.
Let us see what happens when the syllables are slightly modified. In fact many
vocalists sing it this way for convenience ofthalam.

U | | U U
v ri ja bh v

The total length U + | + | + U + U or 2+ 1 + 1 + 2+ 2 = 8 remains unaltered.
However the meaning changes as follows. "One who was the meaning of lotus". Thus
we see that it has taken a meaningless form.
This short exercise shows how Chandas can be used to verify objectively whether
pronunciation of the phrase in a particulr manner is correct or not. Going further
Chandas can be used as a tool to arrive at the correct pronunciation even at the stage of
teaching the songs as follows.


Take the phrase
bha kta ja na ka ly na

This consists of seven syllables as shown above. Now let us apply the U, | symbols to
the syllables.
a. Bha ; although this is hrasva; since it precedes the conjunct consonant kta, it is a
Guru, and so the sign U is applied to it.
b. kta is hrasva and hence the sign | is applied to it.
Going on these lines the phrase assumes the following Chndasya shape.

U | | | U U |
bha kta ja na ka ly na

The total number of aksarakla-s is U + | + | + | + U + U + | : 2+1+1+1+2+2+1 =
10 and this makes it suitable for 2 varta-s of Khanda Cpu. This exercise does not end
here. The syllable "bha" in "bhaktha" is a Guru requiring to be sustained for two
aksarakla-s. Hence it has to be pronounced as follows. First say "bhak" for one
aksaraklam, hold your breath for the second aksaraklam and then say "ta" in the third.
However for convenience of gamaka-prayogam the rust word of this phrase is often
sung as | bh | Kta |. This in no way affects the syllable to syllable aksarakla value. The
only difference being that bha instead of being pronounced as a hrasva followed by
holding of the breath for one aksaraklam, which together make a Guru, is pronounced
as bh which being a drgham constitues again one Guru only. This kind of alliteration
is normally acceptable as the beauty of our music is very much dependent on gamakas.
But let us examine what happens to the bhava in this.particular case.

Bhakta as correctly pronounced means pertaining to devotion. | bh | kta | as
pronounced with modification to help gamaka praygam means inferior. One other
meaning can also be extracted out of this, treating the word as a combination (sandhi) of
the two words bh and akta. This sandhi is called savarna-drgha-sandhi. Bh
means lustre or shadow and aktha means oil or ointment. Hence alliteration in
this case cuases total distortion of the bhva and hence alliteration in this application is
totally unpermissible and so should be shunned by a singer. However if alliteration does
not in any way affect the meaning, in other cases it can be applied to enhance the beauty
of the song.
To put all this concisely the following is the process to be followed to achieve correct
pronunciation.
1. First write down the words correctly.
2. Apply the U, | signs carefully to all the syllables using the rules of Chandas.
3. From this arrive at the total number of aksarakla-s for the sentence.
4. Using this apply the tla structure.
5. If there is any difficulty in achieving the tla-varta at any place, modify the
syllables without losing sight of the following rules
a. A drgham, although has to be sustained for 2 aksarakla-s can be extended to any
length of time.
b. Alliteration may be applied to enhance the beauty of the lyrics or to achieve the
correct tla only after ensuring that no distortion of the meaning takes place.

One may feel that this exercise is too elaborte for something a vocalist does every
day, but one should also remember that perfection can never be achieved without
properly directed effort.