A syllable is as much of
a word as can be pronounced at once, that is, a vowel with or without one or
more consonants.
A syllable is लघु ‘Short’ or गुरु ‘long’
according as its vowel is ‘short’ or ‘long’.
The vowels अ, इ, उ, ऋ & ऌ are short;
आ, ई, ऊ, ॠ, ए, ऐ, ओ & औ are
long. But a short vowel becomes long in
prosody when it is followed by an Anusvara, Visarga and by a conjunct
consonant; as the vowel अ in गंध or गः. (The consonants प्र & ह्र as also ब्र & क्र are said to be exceptions, before
which the vowel may be short by a sort of poetical license. So also the last syllable of a pada is either
long or short, according to the exigence of the metre, whatever be its natural length.
सानुस्वारश्च
दीर्घश्च विसर्गी च गुरुर्भवेत् । वर्णःसंयोगपूर्वश्च तथा पादान्तगोऽपि वा ॥
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