However when a ŗk mantra is recited, an injunction is that the names of ŗşhi, devata and chhandas have to be recited. Omitting any of these is regarded as sacrilege (papīyan). One can easily understand the importance given to the reciting of the names of the ŗşhi and the Devata. But why is the chhandas singled out for this special attention? This question has not received any consideration.

Most of the mantrās in RV are in 7 chhandas namely Gāyatri (24), Anuşhţubh (32), Pangktiĥ (40), Jagatī (48), Ushņih (28), Bŗhatī (36) and Trişhţup (44), the number in parenthesis indicating the number of syllables.

The remaining are in remaining 10 chhandas namely atijagatī (52), atishakvarī (60), atyaşhţiĥ (68), atidhŗtiĥ (76), ekapada (10), shakvari (56), ashtiĥ (64), dhŗtiĥ (72), dvipada (20) and pragātha.

However TS has its own ideas on Chhandas. TS (1.7.11) mentions chhandas ranging from one to seventeen aksharās. TS (4.3.7) mentions the following metres many of which have no association with any known mantra or with a number of aksharās such as “mā, pramā, pratimā, asrīvi, pŗthivī, antariksha, dyauĥ, samāĥ, nakşhatrāņi, manaĥ, vāk, kŗshi, hiraņya, gauĥ, aja, ashva.''

There are similar statements in several places of TS.

To understand these ideas, we should move away from the simplistic definition of chhandas in terms of the number of syllables. Sri Aurobindo translates ’chhandas' as ‘the poetic measure of the sacred mantrās'.

It may be recalled from the essay Suparņa that various chhandas assume the form of birds and recover the Soma, the Delight of Existence from the Supreme place. Again TS (4.3.2) mentions that the ŗşhi Vasişhţha is born from the Rathantara sāman, Vishvāmitra from the Vairūpa, the ŗşhi Vishvakarma from the Shakvāra and Raivata Sāman etc.

TS (4.3.8) has a long list of stomās and their functions. According to Sri Aurobindo, stoma is a hymn of praise and God-affirmation.

Note that in the symbolic construction of the symbolic fire-altar mentioned in Kāņda 4, chhandas plays an important role. One of the types of bricks used in the physical altar is called chhandas bricks. This is discussed in TS (5.3.8). This section has its own type of symbolism.

There are many anuvākās in Kāņdās 3, 4 and 5 dealing with chhandas, stotra, sāman, uktha, stoma and the deities. Some relevant ones are TS (3.1.2), (3.1.7), (3.5.3), (3.5.10), (4.1.5), (4.1.6), (4.3.7), (4.3.8), (5.2.1), (5.3.8) etc.

The following quotation from Sri Aurobindo on the creative power of mantra is relevant.

“In the system of the Mystics, which has partially survived in the schools of Indian Yoga, the Word is a power, the Word creates. For all creation is expression, everything exists already in the secret abode of the Infinite, guhāhitam, and has only to be brought out here in apparent form by the active consciousness. Certain schools of Vedic thought even suppose the worlds to have been created by the goddess Word and sound as first etheric vibration to have preceded formation. In the Veda itself there are passages which treat the poetic measures of the sacred mantrās, -- anuşhţubh, trişhţubh, jagati, gāyatri, -- as symbolic of the rhythms in which the universal movement of things is cast.''

“By expression then we create and men are even said to create the gods in themselves by the mantra. Again, that which we have created in our consciousness by the Word, we can fix there by the Word to become part of ourselves and effective not only in our inner life but upon the outer physical world. By expression we form, by affirmation we establish. As a power of expression the word is termed gīĥ, or vacas; as a power of affirmation, stoma. In either aspect it is named manma or mantra, expression of thought in mind, and brāhman, expression of the heart or the soul, -- for this seems to have been the earlier sense of the word brāhman, afterwards applied to the Supreme Soul or universal Being.''

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