Chant lesson

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय

Vakratuṇḍa Mahākāya

Metre: Anuṣṭubh

Four quarters of 8 syllables. The 5th syllable is usually light and the 6th heavy; the 7th is heavy in the 1st and 3rd quarters and light in the 2nd and 4th. The śloka metre of the epics.

8 syllables per quarter (pāda)

Light and heavy syllables

A syllable is heavy (guru, —) if it has a long vowel (ā ī ū e ai o au), ends in ṃ or ḥ, or is followed by two consonants. Otherwise it is light (laghu, ◡) — hold heavy syllables about twice as long.

— heavy◡ light

Walk through each line

वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटि समप्रभ

vak—ra◡tuṇ—ḍa◡ma◡hā—kā—ya◡sūr—ya◡ko—ṭi◡sa◡map—ra◡bha◡

16 syllables · about 2 quarter(s) of 8

निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा

nir—vigh—naṃ—ku◡ru◡me—de—va◡sar—va◡kār—ye—ṣu◡sar—va◡dā—

16 syllables · about 2 quarter(s) of 8

Syllables are marked automatically from the transliteration; the last syllable of a quarter may be counted either way.

Hear the Vāgdhenu chant

Metre-aware chant by Vāgdhenu (Prof. Prathosh A P, IISc).

Practise with a generated chant

Pace

The practice voice is AI-generated and may not follow traditional svara or metre exactly.