Essay name: Vishnu Smriti (Study)
Author:
Minu Bhattacharjee
Affiliation: Gauhati University / Department of Sanskrit
This is an English study of the Vishnu-Smriti: an ancient Sanskrit Sutra dealing with the rules of various traditions and customs such as Dharmashastra, Caste, Monarchy, Law, Penances and Asceticism. The Vishnu-smriti in one hundred chapters is presented in the form of a dialogue between Vishnu and Prithvi (the goddess Earth).
Chapter 4: Literary merits of Vishnu Smriti
3 (of 14)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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134
The verses, in the Visnusmrti, are composed in
different metres based on the vedic Anustubha and Tristubh
particularly such as the classical 艣loka or Anustup, Indra-
vajr膩, upendravajr膩 vasantatilaka etc.
It may perhaps be stated that the author of the
Visnusmrti has used different figures of speech (ala峁僰膩ra)
such as the R奴paka upam膩, arth盲ntarany膩sa etc.
It may not be that the verses enumerated in the
Visnusmrti do not conform to the rules of sanskrit poetics
(ala峁僰膩ra s膩stra) yet the verses of the Visnusmrti are good
examples of fine poetry. An attempt will be made here to
discuss the metres and the figures of speech of the verses
in short occuring in the Visnusmrti.
METRES :
It has already been stated that the author of the
Visnusmrti has employed different metres as enumerated in
classical sanskrit.
The majority of the verses found in the Visnusmrti
are composed in the classical 艣loka or Anus峁璾p metre based
on the vedic Anustubh metre. The Anustubh metre is defined
in the 峁歬pr膩ti艣膩khya as consisting of theiry two letters
(aksara) divided into four quarters (padas), each quarter
t
