6
either standing by itself or superimposed on a consonant. Syllables longer than a laghu are guru. In this book, they are defined as syllables which end in long vowels or are succeeded by compound syllables or anusvara and are, at the same time, “stressed". By virtue of the last mentioned qualification, a short syllable occuring at the end of a word remains short though followed by a word beginning with a compound syllable. In other words, the rule applies only to syllables occuring in the same word. Compounds must, of course, be taken as single words. The same qualification also accounts for a syallable preceding a compound syllable of which the sound r forms the second and penultimate element being sometimes counted as short. This definition of guru is not, however, exhaustive. It does not, for instance, cover cases of short syllables followed by consonants as ral in varal which is guru. The guru is said to contain two matras and the laghu one. This, again, is not strictly accurate. For, while a laghu can be neither more nor less than a matra, a guru may be anything above a matra. The syllable tan in vanitan contains 1½ matras (taking a consonant as equivalent to half a matra), while the syllable gan in anagan counts for 2½ matras. Dirgha is, of course, two matras but pluta is three. So, the correct way of stating the difference, in terms of matras, between a guru and a laghu
