How to use Chandas

Type a Kannada or Devanagari verse. Chandas counts the syllables, so you can save your arithmetic for less poetic occasions. Looking for a pattern? Jump to the supported-meter field guide.

Read the markings

A dotted underline marks Laghu; a solid underline marks Guru. Red means the selected meter disagrees—not that the app has formed an opinion about the poet.

The faint numbers at the end of each line show its syllable and mātrā totals. The small counter below the editor shows the totals from the beginning of the current line to the cursor.

Choose a meter

Chandas suggests likely meters while you type. Select one to check the active stanza, or use Choose any meter to search the full catalog. Ordinary Roman spelling works even when the displayed name has scholarly diacritics.

Each blank-line-separated stanza may have its own meter. Use Clear selected meter when you would like the red ink to take a tea break.

Kannada Kanda is listed separately from Āryāgīti. Chandas checks its four lines, sixteen four-mātrā gaṇas, special sixth and fourteenth gaṇas, required Guru endings, and conditional yati. The rule set remains marked as possible—not exact—until its golden corpus is reviewed, and prāsa is not checked yet.

Utsāha, Mandānila, and Lalita Ragaḷe are repeatable-line meters, not four-line stanzas wearing an unnecessarily formal hat. Chandas checks every written line, pairwise end-rhyme, and the documented Mandānila alternatives without reporting unwritten future lines as missing. These rules remain provisional pending expert corpus review.

Use the ghost template

After selecting a meter, enable Show template for a faint guide. It shows the whole logical verse even if you have typed only one line: four lines for fixed vṛttas, Anuṣṭubh, and Kanda; six lines for a Ṣaṭpadi; or the shape declared by another meter. Existing lines also show their remaining inline hint.

Fixed meters show Laghu/Guru positions, Anuṣṭubh shows fixed and variable positions, and mātrā meters show group capacity and progress. A two-pattern vṛtta alternates its patterns across the four lines rather than quietly forgetting lines three and four.

The guide is only a guide: it never becomes part of your poem, analysis, copy, or shared text. Ghosts, in this case, are unusually respectful of boundaries.

Save, copy, and share

Your current draft and per-stanza choices are recovered privately on this device. Copy returns the poem without markings. Share opens the device or browser share options; Chandas never posts without you.

The core editor works offline after installation or a successful web visit. Meter suggestions remain guidance, especially for traditions and optional rules not yet included in the catalog.