A Sanskrit term shloka (श्लोक; also spelt sloka) specifically denotes a metered and often rhymed poetic verse or phrase. Shloka is the chief metre used in the Epics.^[1]It also connotes and has come to mean a proverb and a form of prayer throughout Indian religions having arisen in the Vedas. Shloka has become equated with Hindu prayer and is often comparable to a proverb and hymn of praise to be sung or chanted in liturgy. Shloka are generally composed in a specified meter, typically part of stotras. The most common form in classical (post-Vedic) poetry is the anustubh, a verse of four padas (feet), each of eight syllables. Anustubhs are the primary verse form of the Sanskrit epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana. Use of anustubhs became prevalent to the point of "shloka" often being used as a synonym of "anustubh". The traditional view is that this form of verse occurred to Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, on seeing a hunter shoot down one of two birds in love. Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Statue of Jain God Bahubali in Shravanabelagola, Karnataka attracts thousands of devotees. ... Veda redirects here. ... // Hindu/Vedic prayer The Vedic faith system, known today as Hinduism, is known to stretch back to around 3000 BCE. Over its lifetime, it has incorporated all sorts of prayer systems from fire-based rituals to philosophical musings. ... Look up proverb in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Hymn (disambiguation). ... In poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. ... Stotras are Hindu prayers that praise aspects of God, such as Devi, Siva, or Vishnu. ... The main principle of Vedic meter is measurement by the number of syllables. ... A pada ( foot) in Sanskrit poetic meter (chandas) is a quarter of a full verse (the foot of a quadruped being one out of four), e. ... For the computer operating system, see Syllable (operating system). ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... For the film by Peter Brook, see The Mahabharata (1989 film). ... For the television series by Ramanand Sagar, see Ramayan (TV series). ...

See also

• Aksharaslokam
• Prayer in Hinduism
• Vedic meter
• Mantra

// Hindu/Vedic prayer The Vedic faith system, known today as Hinduism, is known to stretch back to around 3000 BCE. Over its lifetime, it has incorporated all sorts of prayer systems from fire-based rituals to philosophical musings. ... The verses of the Vedas have a variety of different meters. ... For other uses, see Mantra (disambiguation). ...

Notes

References

• Meaning of sloka
• Dictionary of Buddhism
• A Dictionary of Hinduism, Stutley (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers) 2002 ISBN 81 215 1074 0

External links

• A huge collection of Slokas in Audio format
• Slokas in Telugu