In context of poetic compositions, 'ashtakam' refers to a particular form of poetry, written in eight stanzas.
Sanskrit language exhibits high richness in sustaining rhyming structures.
Thus Sanskrit ashtakams are capable of carrying a limited set of rhymes all over a lengthy composition.
In the body quatrains the poet establishes a theme and then may resolve it in the final lines, called the couplet, or may leave them unsolved.
The structure is also bound by rules of meter for enhanced suitability for recital and classical singing.