Nāmāṣṭottara-dviśata: Gaṇa–Chandas–Yati Catalogue and Mnemonic Coding
वृत्तं रजौ रजौ पादे रजौ गो लः कृतिर्भवेत् / त्रिसप्तकैः स्नग्धरा स्यात्प्रकृतिर्म्नभनैस्त्रियैः
vṛttaṃ rajau rajau pāde rajau go laḥ kṛtirbhavet / trisaptakaiḥ snagdharā syātprakṛtirmnabhanaistriyaiḥ
આ છંદવિધানে દરેક પાદમાં ‘ર-જ-ઉ, ર-જ-ઉ’ અને ફરી ‘ર-જ-ઉ’ પછી ‘ગો’ તથા ‘લ’ ગણો આવે તો છંદ ‘કૃતિ’ કહેવાય. ત્રણ સપ્તક (સાત અક્ષરના ત્રણ સમૂહ) હોય તો ‘સ્નગ્ધરા’ બને; અને તેની પ્રકૃતિ ‘મ-ન-ભ-ન’ ક્રમ ત્રણ વાર થાય છે.
Sūta/Teacher-narrator (prosody instruction within Garuḍa Purāṇa’s Ācāra material; framed in the Garuḍa–Viṣṇu dialogue tradition)
Concept: Chandas-śāstra as disciplined knowledge: precise gaṇa-patterns define metre and its prakṛti (underlying template).
Vedantic Theme: Vidya as niyama (ordered knowledge) supporting śāstra-pramāṇa and clarity of speech (vāk-śuddhi).
Application: Use the gaṇa mnemonics to scan/compose verses correctly; treat prakṛti as the base pattern for identifying variants.
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
Related Themes: Garuda Purana 1.209 (Chandas/gaṇa-nirūpaṇa context): surrounding verses listing metres by gaṇa codes; Pingala Chandaḥśāstra: gaṇa system (ma-ya-ra-sa-ta-ja-bha-na) and metre-identification by gaṇa strings
This verse shows that the text preserves precise vṛtta-lakṣaṇa (metre markers), helping reciters maintain correct rhythm and aiding scribes/archivists in verifying verse integrity through metrical structure.
It gives diagnostic gaṇa sequences per pāda—when the specified ‘ra-ja-u … go … la’ pattern appears, the metre is labeled Kṛti; and when the structure is ‘three sevens’ with a base pattern repeated thrice, it is identified as Snagdharā.
Use these gaṇa and syllable-count cues to check chanting accuracy, to tag verses by metre in a digital archive, and to improve search/filtering (e.g., “Snagdharā metre verses”) for students and practitioners.