Editing Sanskrit (section)

===Prosody, metre===
{{main|Sanskrit prosody|Vedic metre}}
The Sanskrit language formally incorporates [[Metre (poetry)|poetic metres]].<ref name=jameslochtefeldsca140/> By the late Vedic era, this developed into a field of study; it was central to the composition of the Hindu literature, including the later Vedic texts. This study of Sanskrit prosody is called ''[[Sanskrit prosody|chandas]]'', and is considered one of the six [[Vedanga]]s, or limbs of Vedic studies.<ref name=jameslochtefeldsca140>James Lochtefeld, James (2002). "Chandas". In ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism''. Vol. 1: A-M. Rosen. {{ISBN|0-8239-2287-1}}. p. 140</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Moriz |last=Winternitz|author-link=Moriz Winternitz|title=A History of Indian Literature: Buddhist literature and Jaina literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lgz1eMhu0JsC&pg=PA577|year=1988|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0265-0|page=577}}</ref>

{{Quote box
| quote = <poem>
There is no word without metre,
nor is there any metre without words.
</poem>
| source = — ''Natya Shastra''<ref>{{cite journal |author=Har Dutt Sharma| title= Suvrttatilaka | journal=Poona Orientalist: A Quarterly Journal Devoted to Oriental Studies| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=goUkVCiQEbMC| year=1951| volume=XVII |page=84}}</ref>
| align = right
| bgcolor = #FFE0BB
}}

Sanskrit metres include those based on a fixed number of syllables per verse, and those based on fixed number of [[morae]] per verse.<ref name="Allan2013p228">{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Scharf |editor-first=Keith |editor-last=Allan |title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQfDosHckzEC |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-164344-6 |pages=228–234}}</ref> The Vedic Sanskrit employs fifteen metres, of which seven are common, and the most frequent are three (8-, 11- and 12-syllable lines).<ref name="PremingerWarnke2015p394" /> The Classical Sanskrit deploys both linear and non-linear metres, many of which are based on syllables and others based on diligently crafted verses based on repeating numbers of morae (matra per foot).<ref name="PremingerWarnke2015p394">{{cite book|first1=Alex |last1=Preminger|first2=Frank J. |last2=Warnke|first3=O. B. |last3=Hardison Jr.|title=Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLp9BgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7293-0|pages=394–395}}</ref>