छ :शा पिरचय:

(An introduction to Chandas-śāstra)

K. Ramasubramanian

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India

mullaikramas@gmail.com

RKMVERI, Belur Math

September 28-29, 2018

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Introduction
▶ One of the earliest reference to Chandas-śāstra as an independent
branch of knowledge can be found in the following mantra appearing
in the Muṇḍakopaniṣad.
त ापरा -- ऋ ेदो यजुवदः सामवेदोऽथववेदः श ा क ो ाकरणं
न ं छ ो ो तष म त ।

▶ It has been estimated by scholars that this Chandas-śāstra was

composed by Piṅgala-nāga around 3rd cent. BCE (?), though there
could be some uncertainty in his period.
▶ However, all the authors of the later period refer to Piṅgala with great
reverence and refer to him as the founder. For instance, Kedārabhaṭṭa
in his Vṛttaratnākara (I.4) notes:
प ला द भराचायः य ं लौ ककं धा।
मा ावण वभेदन
े छ दह क ते ।।
Whatever has been stated by the great preceptors commencing with
Piṅgala …
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Introduction
▶ The Chandas-śāstra, has some very interesting and intricate
connection with mathematics.
▶ These connections come out in the context of studying what are
called ‘pratyayas’
▶ was merely systematizing the available knowledge, or
▶ was he the originator of this branch of knowledge?
▶ In any case, the algorithms presented by him form the earliest
examples of use of recursion in Indian mathematics.
▶ In fact, he deserves to be credited with discovery of
▶ the origin of binary arithmetic
▶ the combinatorial techniques
▶ the Meru-prāstara (the so called Pascal’s triangle)
▶ the binomial coefficients and even the Fibbonacci sequence
▶ All this has been arrived at in the context of systematically studying
the mathematics of poetry.
▶ It may not be easy to imagine that study of poetry → combinatorics!
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Chandas-śāstra, its classifcation, and its importance

▶ It consists of 308 sūtras distributed among 8 chapters.1

▶ But for the first and the last chapters, the rest of the text presents an
exhaustive account of different meters in Sanskrit.
▶ Definition of Chandas-śāstra and its classifcations:
कोऽयं छ ः ? मा ा रसं ा नयता वा छ ः ।
स वधः (1) अ र ः / वृ ः 2 (2) मा ा ेत ।
अा ः पुन वधः समः, अधसमः, वषम े त ।

▶ Emphasizing the importance of the study of Chandas, the text

Chāndogya-brāhmaṇa observes:
यो वा अ व दताषय-छ ोदैवत ा णेन याजय त वा अ ापय त वा ाणुं
वा ऋ त गत वा प ते वा यते पापीया भव त। यातयामा
छ स भव |

1
I – 15, II – 16, III – 66, IV – 53, V - 44, VI – 43, VII – 36, VIII – 35.
2
अ रसं पुर ृ वृ ः अ र ः ।
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The importance of knowing the meaning

▶ The following verse (from Nirukta) strongly emphasizes the

importance of knowing the meaning of what is being rendered.
ाणुरयं भारहारः कलाभू
अधी वेदं न वजाना त योऽथ ।
योऽथ इ सकलं भ म ुते
नाकमे त ान वधूतपा ा ।।
The one who does not know the meaning, having learnt the vedas,
he is simply a post (sthāṇu), only bearing the load. Indeed the one
who knows the meaning, he attains all prosperity ….

▶ This verse quoted by Patanjali again emphasizes the need for

knowing the meanings with a beautiful simile
य ह
ृ तम व ातं नगदेनैव श ते ।
अन ा वव ै धः न त ल त क ह च ।।

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Some examples of metrical composition
▶ The following verse is from Tulasīdāsa’s Rāmacaritamānas.
नानापुराण नगमागमस तं य
रामायणे नग दतं चद तोऽ प ।
ा ःसुखाय तुलसीरधुनाथगाथा
भा़षा नब म तम लु मातनो त ।।

This verse is composed in Vasantatilakā meter (14 syllables).

▶ The following verse is from Kālidāsa’s most famous work.
ष
ू गु कु यसखीवृ ं सप ीजने
भतृ व कृता प रोषणतया मा तीपं गमः ।
भू य ं भव द णा पिरजने भा े नु े कनी
या व े ं गृ हणीपदं युवतयो वामाः कुल ाधयः ॥

▶ Can you identify the metre of the above verse?

▶ Both these verses form examples of what may be called as
laukika-chandas.
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Halāyudha’s prelude to the commentary of Piṅgala-sūtras

▶ Halāyudha at the beginning of his commentary मृतस ी वनी notes:

नम ु शर ु च चामरचारवे |
ल
ै ो नगरार मूल ाय शंभवे ||
वेदान थमा कवीन नयन च |
प लाचायसू मया वृ वधा ते |
ीरा र
े मृतं य धृतं देवै: सदानवै: |
छ ो :े प लाचाय: छ ोमृतं तथो त ृ ||

▶ Noteworthy is the description the eyes of a poet.

▶ Further, the description – as the nectar was lifted from the milky
ocean – indicates that it would be more appropriate to consider
Piṅgala as a sytematizer of knowledge than the originator.
▶ Before Piṅgala we have sūtras due to Sāṅkhyāyana:
पदा गाय ी (1), उ (2), पुरउ (3), ककु (4) …

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The sūtras of the first two chapters

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The introductory verses of Vṛttaratnākara

Part 1: Invocatory verse

सुखस ान स थ3 न ा ा ुता चत ।
गौर वनायकोपेतं श रं लोकश र ॥१॥
Part 2: About his lineage and the purpose of authoring
वेदाथशैवशा ः प के ोऽभू जो मः।
त पु ोऽ केदारः शवपादाचने रतः॥२॥
तेनेदं यते छ ो ल ल णसंयुत ।
वृ र ाकरं नाम बालान सुखबु ये॥३॥
Part 3: An overview of the text
प ला द भराचायय ं लौ ककं धा।
मा ावण वभेदन
े छ दह क ते॥४॥
षड ाय नब छ सोऽ पिर ु ट ।
माणम प व ेयं ष ं शद धकं शत ॥५॥

3
सुखं = नव नता दसंयोगज ; शा ाथ ु टावबोधज ।. .
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Notion of a syllable and gaṇas
▶ A syllable could be merely a vowel or a vowel that is preceded by one
or more consonants. Examples of two and three-syllabled words:
अज, राम, रमा सुमुख, अमरा, गाय ी

▶ A syllable with a short vowel is called the laghu, whereas the one
with a long vowel is called guru.
▶ A short vowel is also considered as guru, when it is followed by a
conjunct consonant, an anusvāra (nasalisation), or a visarga.
रामः, कृ ः सु रः, गो व ः

▶ Generally, the last syllable of a quartet irrespective of whether it is a

short or a long vowel is considered to be guru.
▶ Kedārabhaṭṭa in his Vṛttaratnākara (I.6) observes:
र ज गैल ःै ए भदश भर रै ः।
सम ं वा यं ा ं ल ै ो मव व न ु ा।।
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Cute and clever notations introduced by Piṅgala
▶ The first eight sūtras4 of chandas-śāstra define the gaṇas:
धी ी ी , वरा सा , का गुहा , वसुधा
सा ते , कदा स , कं वद , न हस

▶ After having introduced the notation for gaṇas, Piṅgalaproceeds to

introduce a few other conventions.
गृ , ग े ( + अ )े , ा दपरः, हे (ग इ नुवतते)
लाै सः , ाै (अ धकारसू ),
अ ाै वसव इ त

▶ In fact, the entire first chapter consisting of 15 sūtras is essentially

meant for introducing the notations and conventions.
▶ एतेष सं ासू ाण व नयोगः – व ु ाला मौ गौ (6.6), भुज यातं यः
(6.36)

4
It may be noted that these defining sūtras by themselves—and particularly in
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conjuction with the succeeding sūtra(s)—are indeed meaningful!.
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Some examples of metrical composition

▶ The following verse is from (Bhagavadgītā).

कम व
े ा धकार े मा फले षु कदाचन ।

This is composed in 8-syllabled meter. What is the name of the metre?

▶ The following is a Veda-mantra.
स यु रथमेकच मेको अ ो वह त स नामा।
ना भ च मजरमनव य मे ा व ा भुवनाऽ ध त ःु ॥ (ऋ.सं. २।३)

Can you identify the meter of its composition?

▶ The following is also a Veda-mantra.
य न े य नयज देवाः ता न धम ण थमा ास ।
ते ह नाकं म हमानः सच े य पूव सा ाः स देवाः॥ (ऋ.सं. ८।४)

Is it metrical? Can you indentify the meter ?

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Some examples of metrical composition

▶ The following in an interesting सू from the ऋ ेद.

▶ We shall make an attempt to indentify the meters in the hymn above.

▶ Can you check with the second one if it has 12 syllables in all the four
quarters?
▶ How about the third one?

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The basic gaṇas associated with two forms of metres

वणवृ The eight gaṇas defined by Piṅgala, have been redefined—in

the same sequence—in a single verse as follows:
सवगुम मुखा ल यराव गलौ सतौ।
ा ौ भौ लोनोऽ ौ भव गण काः॥७॥
मा ावृ In mātra-vṛttas, a unit of 4-mātras constitutes a gaṇa. The
five possible combinations of the 4-mātra-vṛtta are listed in
the following verse.
ेयाः सव म ा दगुरवोऽ चतु लाः।
गणा तुलघूपेताः प ाय दषु सं ताः॥८॥
Special rules The verse below presents some special rules observed while
identifying guru and laghu as well as notations employed.
सानु ारो वसग ो दीघ यु पर यः।
वा पादा े सौ ो ेयोऽ ो मा को लृ जुः॥९॥

Here, यु पर is उपल ण for ज ामूल य and उप ानीय। Ex: ‘म ः क व …’

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Resolving the contradiction between the sūtras
The discussion below, presented by Halāyudha, helps us in correctly
understanding the two sūtras `ग ’े and ` त समानी’, which seem to be
apparently contradicting each other.

ननु ' त समानी' ( प० सू० ५।७) इ ादीन पादा े वतमान

गु ं न ते। नैष दोषः। सव पादा े वतमान गु ं
उ गस । त लकार ु ा अपवादेन बा ते। यथा--' त समानी'
( प० सू० ५।७) 'गी ाय लः' ( प० सू० ४।४७) इ ादौ। सामा न े
वशेष बाधः क न संमतः? त ा कुचो मेत ॥

The resolution that is done here is by invoking what is called the

utsarga-apavāda-nyāya
▶ utsarga – a general rule
▶ apavāda – an exception (also means censure)
▶ nyāya – a principle or a maxim

Finally he says: This is not a well-thought-out question!

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Resolving the contradiction between the sūtras
Continuing his discussion further Halāyudha presents the views proposed
by two more schools of thought to resolve the contradiction, and dismisses
them as unsound propositions.

के च ददं सू ं व त वभाषया ाच ते। ' त माणी' ( प० सू०

५।८) इ ादीनाम े गु मेव, 'समानी' ( प० सू० ५।७) इ ादीनाम े
लघु मेव। त ा दयं व ा माण । शेषाणा म या गु ं लघु ं
चे त । अनुपप , वक ा त
ु ा , क व े त न व ः॥

ननु केना ु 'वा पादा े ः' (वृ० र० १।९) इ त गु ।

स मु , ं ह त । 'वा े इ त ो ं यै े पटा द भः।
त
त ग पवादेन बाध न
ै वधािरतः॥' इ या गु ं लघु ं नोपप ते।
क े या? कं शा कार ? कवेव ?। न तावदा ः प ः,
सू े दशना । ना प तीयः, कवेर प इ ाय व ाभावा । को
जाना त क क शी े त॥

Finally he notes: It is impossible to draw boundaries for desires!

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Resolving the contradiction between the sūtras
Then Halāyudha goes on to present a third objection, proposed by amatuer
grammarians, and dismisses that as well.
अा ेपः अ े ा ः — ननु पदा े वतमान पा ण नना
गु सं ा न कृता। तेनो 'संयोगे गु ' (पा० सू० १।४।११), 'दीघ
च' (पा० सू० १।४।१२) इ त। नायं संयोगा दन च दीघः। त ा
'ग 'े इ त सू मयु ॥

समाधान अ ो ते — पा ण नना शा योजनाथ गु सं ा कृता।

'गुरो हलः' (पा० सू० ३।३।१०३) इ कार यो यथा
ा --कु ा, ा; (इ ादीना । तथा—) ईहाा े , ऊहा े ,
इ व
े मादीना 'इजादे गु मतोऽनृ ः' (पा० सू० ३।१।३६)
इ ा य । पदा े वतमान लघोगु ा तदेशे पा णनेः
योजनमेव ना । कंचानु ारा दपूव वण 'बलं '
'संप द' ादौ त गु सं ा पा ण नना न कृता, कमेतावता
अ र ै प न कत ा?। त ा सू मद 'ग 'े इ त। ग देशाः
'गाव अापीडः' ( प० सू० ५।२२) इ व े मादयः॥

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Were new meters introduced after Piṅgala?
▶ The tradition has not been stagnant. One of the 8-syllabled meters
that got introduced later is defined as follows:
मा णका जराै लगाै।

▶ Halāyudha besides giving explanations also demonstrates the use of

the meter with examples that are both interesting and instructive:

Definition: दोधकं भाै गाै । (6.24)

Example: दोधकमथ वरोधकमु 5ं

ीचपलं यु ध कातर च ।
ाथपरं म तह नममा 6ं
मु त यो नृप तः स सुखी ा ।।

▶ Definitions followed by such beautiful examples are not only helpful

in remembering, but are a source of delight in the process of learning!
5
The term ‘dodhaka’, means the own who milks; In this context it refers to one
who robs one’s own master.
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It is unfortunate that sometimes nations have to deal. with
. .
such miniters.
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The significance of presenting the gaṇas in this form

▶ Halāyudha, at the end of the chapter, notes:

इह ादीनामुपादान योजनं व ते---अ यना ीभव त। य धी ीः,

बु पूवक ा वभूतेः। य ी ी, अथमूलक ा ाह । 'वरा
सा' इ नेन सवष ीसाधनोपायान बु े पाय माहा ं दशय त। तथा
चो ---
अध ु ल पर णाह ज ा ायासभीरवः ।
सव णपिर े शमबुधाः कम कुवते ॥

त ाह श ः--'का गुहा'? गुहाश ः ानवाचकः। का गुहा य ासौ त त?।

उपा ायो त
ू े--'वसुधा'। पृ थ ल ते धीन वषादः कत ः।
▶ There is another way of interpreting the same aphorism.
▶ We can consider the word धी ी ी as a bahuvrīhi compound.
▶ That woman is far better – वरा सा – than others!

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Various gaṇas: Their binary and decimal representation

gaṇa notation binary form mirror image decimal value

ma ऽऽऽ 000 000 0
ya ।ऽऽ 100 001 1
ra ऽ।ऽ 010 010 2
sa ।।ऽ 110 011 3
ta ऽऽ। 001 100 4
ja ।ऽ। 101 101 5
bha ऽ।। 011 110 6
n ।।। 111 111 7

▶ It is clear from the above table that the mirror image of the binary
representation of the gaṇas given by Piṅgala, directly gives the
decimal number in a sequence.
▶ The sequence obtained from the string यमाताराजभानसलग doesn’t
produce decimal number in sequence.
▶ However, that has some other advantage.
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Evolution of laukika-chandas from vaidika-chandas
▶ Initially the pattern recognition would have started only with count
of syllables (अ र) and foots (पाद). That is,
अ रसं ामा ण
े पादसं ामा ण
े च वै दक स वहारः।

▶ Here are a few mantras in veda that would have motivated to define
gaṇas and also come up with the beautiful theory of prosody.
ुह त
ु ं गतसदं यवानं … (उपे व ा)
अमी य ऋ ा न हतास उ ा … (उपजा त)

▶ The third chapter commences with – पादः (1), इया दपूरणः (2)
▶ Commenting on the second one Halayudha notes:
पादः इ नुवतते। इया दः पूरणो य सः इया दपूरणः। अा दकरणेन
उवादयोऽ प गृ ।े उदाहरणं --
त वतुवरे णय (ऋ. 3.4.10.5)। दवं ग सुवः पत।

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Evolution of laukika-chandas from vaidika-chandas
The first few sūtras of the third chapter

The next sūtra goes as:

अनु ु ाय ःै (3.23) -- चतु ा द नुवतते। गाय ःै अ ा रै ः पादैः

चातु ा ः 'अनु ु 'सं ं भव त।

Example: सह शीष पु षः। सह ा ः सह पा ।

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The six forms of Pratyayas

ारो न मु ं एक ा द लग या।
सं ानम योग षडेते याः त
ृ ाः ।।

Prastara: Given the number of syllables, how to systematically list

the different possible forms of meter
Naṣṭa: Recovering the “lost-form” from the serial number.
Uddiṣṭa: Recovering the number from the “indicated-form”.
Lagakriyā: Process of finding the number of forms with given number
of lagus and gurus.
Sankhyā: “Count” of the possible number of meters given the number
of syllables (n).
Adhvayoga: Space that is required to jot down the the various possible
forms of a n-syllabled meter.

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Sūtras outlining how to make a Prastāra?
▶ Halāyudha presents the sūtras (8.20) and (8.21) with the following
introduction – र ारं सू येनाह --
कौ ौ ौ (गकारलकारौ) कौ ापये ।
म ौ च ा पतौ ौ म ौ च काय । (वण: वण रॆ ण सं ः
म ः)
एव -- गौ, ौ, ौ, लौ -- इ त चतुः कारः र ारः भव त ।
▶ The next sūtra describes the construction of higher order prastāras:
पृथ ा म ा: -- र ारं ः ाप य ा पृथ ाः (गकारा
लकारा ) म ाः काय ः ।

▶ Another way of getting this arrangement is described in

Vṛttaratnākara of Kedārabhaṭṭa (12th century):
पादे सवगुरावा ा लघु गुरोरधः ।
यथोपिर तथा शेषं भूयः कुय दमुं व ध ।।
ऊने द ा ु नेव याव सवलघुभवे ।
ारोऽयं समा ातः छ ो व च तवे द भः ।।
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What is Meru-prastāra ?
▶ The etymological derivation of the word Meru7
मनो त पत ( ोत ष / धातु वशेषा वा) -- इ त मे ः ।

▶ The word Meru-prastara can be derived as:

मे स शः ारः -- मे ारः ।
(छ ः भृतीन भेदबोधकस े त वशेषः -- ारः)

▶ Halāyudha explains Meru-prastara as follows:

▶ उपिर ादेकं चतुर को ं ल ख ा त अध ा उभयातोऽध न ा ं

को क यं लखे ।
▶ त ा ध ा यं, त ा ध ा चतु यं, यावद भमतं ान म त
मे ारः ।
7
बालमनोरमा -- म प ः - डु म ेपणे, िर प गाता व प ठतः
पधातुग थकः, आ यः ा । मे िर त - ये गुणः । 'मे ः सुमे हमा ः'
इ मरः ।
त बो धनी -- मपी - डु म ेपणे, पी पाने । 'मे ः सुमे हमा ः' इ मरः ।
पीयते रसा इ त पे ः । पबतेिर त - पा पाने । ह च ो माह सं व. . . रवपु िर ा द ।
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How many rhythms are possible given a n-syllable metre ?
▶ The answer is straightforward – 2n . This is simply because, each of
the syllable can be either a laghu or a guru.
▶ How many rhythms are are possible in a n-syllable metre with exactly
k-laghus and (n − k) gurus?

0
2 = 1 0 syll. meter

1
2 = 1 + 1 1 syll. meter
g l

2
2 = 1 + 2 + 1 2 syll. meter
gg gl ll

3
2 = 1 + 3 + 3 + 1 3 syll. meter
ggg ggl gll lll

4 +
2 = 1 + 4 + 6 + 4 1 4 syll. meter
gggg gggl ggll glll llll

5
2 = 1 + 5 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 1 5 syll. meter
ggggg ggggl gggll gglll gllll lllll

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The Prastāra given by Piṅgala (for n = 4) (aphorism 4.13)
▶ Let us first tabulate a few entries:

no. of beats pattern of the beats no. of rhythms

n=1 l 1
n=2 ll g 2
n=3 lll gl lg 3
n=4 llll gll lgl llg gg 5
▶ Piṅgalagives the result in the form of an aphorism:
गौ ग म ाद (gau gantamadhyādirnlaśca).

meaning of the words in the aphorism signified

गौ = ौ गकारौ एको गणः ऽऽ
गकारः अ े य सः ग ः तीयो गणः ।।ऽ
गकारः म े य सः गम ः तृतीयो गणः ।ऽ।
गकारः आदौ य सः गा दः चतुथ गणः ऽ।।
ौ = नकारलकारौ म लतौ प मो गणः ।।।।
▶ This definition of gaṇa is applicable for mātra-vṛtta only.
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Construction of a mātrā-meru

The following verses succinclty present the

construction of a mātrā-meru:
आदावेकं से को ं तदधः प यु के।
ौ ौ च तदध ी एवं पेण वधन ॥
अ को े षु सवषु थमा ं से सुधीः।
आदौ चैकं ततो ौ च पुनः ैकं तत य ॥
एका रं च यु ा ं एवं पेण पूरण ।
म को ं ततः ा ःै पूरणीयं शरः तैः॥
शरः तोऽ का ा एक कृ पूरये ।
एवं मेण स ः ा मा ामे न संशयः॥

It may be noted that the sum of the numbers in the

consecutive rows give the so-called Fibbonacci
sequence.

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The number of rhythms for a n-mātrā prastāra

▶ The verse given by Virahaṅka (∼ 600CE):

ौ ौ पूव वक ौ या मेल य ा जायते सं ा |
सा उ रमा ाण सं ाया एष नदश:||
By adding the two immediately preceding possibilities …

▶ If Sn be the number of metrical patterns that can be generated by the

n-mātrā prāstara, then it is given by

Sn = Sn−1 + Sn−2 . (1)

▶ The proof of the above recursive relation is simply given by the

statement:
Every n-mātra prāstara ends with either laghu or a guru.

▶ Isn’t it quite a brilliant and elegant proof?

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Bharata’s description of a n-mātrā prastāra
▶ The verses (114-15) of Bharata (∼ 100CE) describing the prastāra:
गुरोरध ादा ारे लघु व से |
अ त ु समादेया: गुरवः पृ त: तथा ||
थमं गु भवणः लघु भ वसानज |
वृ ं तु सवछ ु ार व धरे व तु ||

▶ Here are a few examples (L and G stand for laghu and guru):

n=1 n=2 n=3 n=4 n=5

L G LG GG LGG
LL GL LLG GLG
LLL LGL LLLG
GLL GGL
LLLL LLGL
LGLL
GLLL
LLLLL
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Piṅgala’s meru-prastāra & its connection with
Bharata/Virahaṅka/Hemacandra numbers

1 Hemachandra
1 1 numbers
2
Pingala’s 1 1 3
Meruprastara
5
1 2 1 8
13
1 3 3 1 21
1 4 6 4 1

1 5 10 10 5 1

1 6 15 20 15 6 1

1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1

Sum of the numbers along the shadow Hemachandra

diagonal of the Meruprastara = numbers

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How to find the naṣṭa?
▶ The following two sūtras succinctly lay down the procedure for
finding out the sequence, when the form of the n-vṛtta-prastāra is lost
(naṣṭa) and only the row number is known:
ल । (8.24)
If you halve [place a] laghu.
सैके । (8.25)
If one is [to be] added [to halve then place] a guru.

▶ What is essentially being stated in the two sūtras is

▶ If the given number is even (can be halved), then a laghu (।).
▶ If the given number is odd, we need to add one, place a guru (ऽ)
and then halve it.
▶ The two steps have to be repeated, by halving the number at every
stage, placing either a laghu or a guru, till we get one.
▶ Once we have one, if we keep repeating the process, the algorithm
will keep on producing a string of gurus. But we need to stop, the
moment we get the required number of syllables.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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How to find the naṣṭa?

▶ Example 1: Find the form of row-6 in a 3-vṛtta-prastāra:

▶ Since the given row no. is even we place a laghu (।) first.
▶ When divided by 2, we get 3; An odd number and hence we
place a guru (ऽ).
▶ Since we have odd number 3, add one before dividing by 2. Now
the result is 2, which is even and hence we place a laghu (।).
Thus we find that the 6th row of a 3-vṛtta-prastāra is ।ऽ।.
▶ Example 2: Find the form of row-13 in a 4-vṛtta-prastāra:
▶ Since the given row no. is odd we place a laghu (ऽ) first.
▶ Since we have odd number 3, add one before dividing by 2. Now
the result is 7, which is odd and hence we place a guru (ऽ).
▶ Again we add 1, and divide by 2; Since we get 4, an event, we
place a laghu (।).
▶ We divide by 2, and get a 2 a laghu (।).
Thus we find that the 13th row of a 4-vṛtta-prastāra is ऽऽ।।.
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How to find the saṅkhyā?
▶ The following four sūtras lay down the procedure:
तलोमगणं ल ॥८॥२६॥

य वृ स ज ासेत त मू ौ ारयेत। तत ा े यो लकारः

सजातीयापे या, तमादौ कृ ा तलो न े रावतयेत। त नराकाराया
अावृ ेरस वा थमा त मे कारणाभावादेकस ा ल ते।
तत कै स ा म लकार ाध ा ाप य ा गुणये ।
तत ादपनीय त व ू वण ाध ा धाय पुन गुणये ।पुन द प
पूव । एवं याव वृ ा रा ण ा तलो ने समा ।े त याः स ा
न ,े ताव तथं त ृ म त॥
त वशेषमाह--
ततो क
े ं ज ा ॥८॥२७॥

पूव े कम ण यमाणे य द सा स ा गकार ानमाप ते, तदा त

गुण य ा ततः स ासमुदायादेकं जे । ततः पूव ं कम कुय । ततः
पिरपूण ा ृ स ा स त॥
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How to find the saṅkhyā?

▶ The following four sūtras lay down the procedure:

रध । पे । ः े । तावदध त ु णत । (8.28-31) .

▶ The commentator while commenting on the first sūtra observes:

ारा ना वृ सं ापिर ानाथमाह -- .

▶ Example n = 6 :

n=6 twice (2 × 22 )2 = 64
n=3 zero 2 × 22 = 8
n=2 twice 22 = 4
n=1 zero 2

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Rationale behing the procedure for finding saṅkhyā
The Algorithm:
▶ If the number is divisible by two, place a 2. (in fact the commentator
says – अपनीते इ ाहारः )
▶ If the number cannot be halved, then subtract one, and place a 0.
▶ if we have zero, we need to multiply by 2.
▶ if we have two, we need to multiply by itself (square it).
The Rationale:
▶ It has been noted that the no. of forms of n-syllable Sn

Sn = 2 × Sn−1 .

▶ Instead of calculating Sn the above way he finds a ingenious way,

which is based on the fact
n
2n = (2 2 )2 (n even)
= 2×2 (n−1)
(n odd)

which brings in enormous simplification for large

.
n!!.
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Different symbols used for denoting zero

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Why undertake the study of Chandas-śāstra?

त ा छ ोभ दोषेण का योजने ो मा तरे च ह इ पे माणान

अार णीयं लौ ककानाम प स व ानशा ।

उ ं च ाकृते पै ले —

जेम ण सहई कणअतुला तलतु लअं अ ेण।

तेम ण सहई सवणतुला अव ं छ भ े ण ॥१॥
अबुह बुहाणं म े क ं जो पढइ ल ण व ण ।
भूअगालगाखगा हं सीसं खु डअं ण जाणेइ ॥२॥ इ त।

यथा न सहते कनकतुला तलतु लतम न।

तथा न सहते वणतुला अप ं छ ोभ े न॥१॥
अबुधो बुधान म े का ं यः पठ त ल ण वह न ।
भुजा ल ख े न शीष ख तं न जाना त॥२॥ इ त ह तदथः।

त ददमप ं ल ण वह नं मा यु ह इ ार णीयं छ ो व ानशा ॥

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Concluding remarks!
▶ It may be noted that the entire binary arithmetic and a variety of
combinatorical tools is present in the study of Piṅgala.
▶ He clearly outlines the procedure of finding out all possible outcomes
of a n-syllabled meter.
▶ Also, the recursive algorithm prescribed by Piṅgala. turns out to be a
very efficient way of finding 2n . (n → log n; a divide and conquer
stragegy – in a positive sense!)
▶ The process of fiding the naṣṭa and uddiṣṭa give by him is akin to the
problem of ranking and unranking studied in computer science today.
▶ The procedure laid out by him to find out the count of possible
ardhasamavṛtta and viṣamavṛtta are indeed quite remarkable, as they
do not have any practical utility.
▶ All this invariably point to the fact that Piṅgala was a “true/pure”
mathematician who has been pursuing the discipline more for delight
and for its own sake!
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Thanks!

ध वादाः !

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