Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s8.902

v2.c4.s8.902

Śloka, in the plural, is found enumerated after the Upaniṣads, and before the Sūtras, in the list of literary types given in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.¹ In the Taittirīya Upaniṣad² the Śloka-kṛt appears: he is rather the ‘poet,’ as Max Müller³ renders it, than merely one who ‘calls aloud,’ as the St. Petersburg Dictionary explains the term.⁴ Exactly what is meant cannot be said: ‘verses’ generally may be intended, several kinds being preserved in the Brāhmaṇas and called Ślokas.⁵