Ovi (poetry)

The literary ovee is sung without tala (rhythm) by a kirtankar in a kirtan, a devotional call-and-response chanting form.

[5] The ovee metre is believed to be existed in folk song tradition even before Dnyaneshwar, which the saint adopted for his literary works.

[7] ovee is thought to be in the rhythm of songs sung by women on the grinding stone (jata).

The first three charans are rhymed and have same number of matras (instants) composed of six or eight letters (vary from eight to ten syllables), while the fourth is "open" (unrhymed with the rest), shorter with fewer matras and generally has four letters (vary from four to six syllables).

[8][3][9] Example of an ovee from Dnyaneshwari: Devā Tūchi Gaṇeshū | Sakalārthamatiprakāshū | Mhaṇe Nivṛtti Dāsū | Avadhārijojē ||2||

[1] Dilip Chitre considers the abhanga tradition is strongly influenced by the women's ovee.

Janabai's abhangas borrow themes of women's household chores of grinding and pounding from the women's ovee tradition and asks Vithoba, the patron god of the Varkari tradition, to help her in her chores.