Page:A History of Hindi Literature.djvu/20

 6 A HISTORY OF HINDI LITERATURE books can be found which do not contain some words of Persian origin. Some Portuguese, and nowadays many English words, have also found their way into the language. Hindi Prosody.— There is probably no language in which prosody has been more elaborately developed than in Hindi. Its system is derived ultimately from the principles which govern Sanskrit poetry. It does not, like English, depend on accent, but, like the classic poetry of Greece and Rome, is based on the quantity of the syllables, long or short. But rhyme is also used almost universally, and in Hindi poetry a rhyme means that not only the last syllable of a line, but the last two syllables at least, correspond with those of another line. A good deal of liberty is allowed in respect of orthography and even of grammatical con- struction, but the rules for the various metres are very complicated. The result however in the hands of a skilful poet is the production of poetry the form and rhythm of which has a wonderful charm probably not surpassed in any language. The number of metres recognized in books of Hindi prosody is very large. A few only of the principal ones can be mentioned here. A doha (or dohra) is a couplet each line of which contains twenty-four matras or instants, divided up again into feet according to a recognized plan. A Mdtra denotes the length of time occupied in the utterance of a short vowel. Long vowels and diphthongs are regarded as consisting of two matras. The doha is the most popular and frequent of all metres. The soratha is an inverted doha, that is the second half of each line of the doha changes place with the first half. The chaupdl ranks with the doha in popularity. It consists of four lines, each of which has sixteen matras. Other much-used metres are the kiindaliya, the chhappai, the kdvya, the savaiya and the kavitta. Many metres are specially used in the composition of verses which are intended to be sung. In these the same rhyme is often continued throughout all the lines of the poem.