The Sanskrit term śloka (श्लोक; also anglicized as shloka or sloka) specifically denotes a metered and often rhymed poetic verse or phrase. 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. It also connotes and has come to mean a proverb and a form of prayer throughout Indian religions having arisen in the Vedas.

The most common form in classical (post-Vedic) poetry is the anustubh, a verse of four padas (feet), each of eight syllables. Use of anustubhs became prevalent to the point of "shloka" often being used as a synonym of "anustubh". Anustubhs are the primary verse form of the Sanskrit epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana.^[1] 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.

[edit] See also

• Aksharaslokam
• Prayer in Hinduism
• Vedic meter
• Mantra

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009)

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

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