ASTPADI

ASTPADI, from Sanskrit astapada, astapad or astapadf, is a poetic composition comprising ast or eight padas or stanzas. No specific rhyme scheme, measure or burden is prescribed for it, but all the eight stanzas must be in the same metre and measure. Lines in each stanza are generally rhymed. In Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, there are astpadfs composed in different musical measures (ragas) and metres.

For instance,Guru Nanak has written astpadfs in ragas Gauri and Maru; those under measure Gauri are in Chaupai metre and those under Maru in Nishani metre. All the twenty-four astpadis which constitute Guru Arjan`s Sukhmani are in Chaupai metre and Gauri raga. Although each of the eight stanzas in an astpadfo Sukham” comprises ten verses, the number of verses in a stanza elsewhere in the Scripture is restricted from two to four lines.

References :

1. Kahn Singh, Bhai, Guruchhand Divakar. Patiala, 1970
2. Charan Singh, Sn Guru Granth BaniBeura. Amritsar, 1860
3. Kohli, Surindar Singh, ed., Panjabi Sahitt Kosh. Chandigarh, 1972