BOOK XI.
ON PROSODY.
(ఛందము, or ఛందస్సు.)
"Thou art arriv'd where of itself, my ken
'No further reaches. I with skill and art
'Thus far have drawn thee. Now thy pleasure take
'For guide. Thou hast overcome the steeper way
'O'er come the straiter. Lo ! the sun that darts
'His beam upon thy forehead."
DANTE, PURGATORY CANTO XXVII.
Telugu literature being principally in verse, a knowledge of proeody is requisite as a guide in enunciation: the natives rarely study this art because they are in childhood taught the traditionally proper mode of reading. But those who study the language at a later period of life will find a knowledge of (tjoss^, chhandamu, tfoisty chhandas) prosody profitable as a guide in accent. I acknowledge that I was reluctant to study the art, and was persuaded to do so only because I was shown it's utility in understanding the proper stops: and in reading so as to be intelligible to others. To use the words of Pope.
What will a child learn sooner than a song? What better teach a foreigner the tongue f What's long or short, each accent where to place. And speak in public with some sort of grace?
But the literature of a foreign country furnishes the means of attaining a higher object: for it gives us an insight into the minds
