Vaidarbhi Style of Sanskrit Poetry

Vaidarbhi style of Sanskrit poetry

This is a small note on the Vaidarbhi style of Sanskrit poetry used by poets such as the queen-poet Gangadevi, the very eminent poet Kalidasa and many others. I thought it would be interesting to sketch a very basic idea of what exactly this style of poetry is all about.

Vaidarbhi is a style or riti mentioned in Bharata’s Natyashastra.

Not for nothing is this style known as Samagraguna Vaidarbhi (Vaidarbhi with all the guna, poetic excellences). Such a composition is believed to be harmonious to the ear and to the senses. A composition rendered in the Vaidarbhi style has all these guna, attributes - 

Ojas (compact word construction and deep meaning), 

Prasada (no terseness of expression and the ability to convey meaning),
Slesha (smooth word flow and the binding of thoughts with harmony and sequence),
Samata (uniformity and matching of ideas between the beginning and the end), 
Samadhi (construction of syllables beginning with long and heavy sounds descending to short and light sounds), 
Madhurya (use of uncompounded words), 
Saukumarya (smoothness of expression even to convey unpalatable ideas), 
Udarata (absence of vulgarity), 
Arthavyakti (clarity of expression), 
Kanti (fresh word usage [word use] and the imparting of a glow to the composition [sense use]).

The styles in Sanskrit poetry were named after their region of origin. Thus Vaidarbhi, Gaudi, Panchali etc. indicate these styles originated from the areas of Vidarbha, Gauda and Panchala. 

To go into slightly more detail -

Vaidarbi uses no compound words. It employs compactness. Evenness of syllable structure and symmetry are its hallmarks.

Gaudi’s characteristic is compound high-sounding words, alliteration and verbosity.

Panchali employs middling compounds.

Reference -

Sanskrit Criticism by VK Chari