Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c12.s3.95

c12.s3.95

(i) In about 15 instances (§ 174 i) the final syllable of a dual in -av is shewn by the metre to be short, just as in the locatives in § 170 ii e. Only in one instance is such a dual written in combination, namely in vi 63 1a. This leads to the conclusion that in an earlier state of the text the duals in -ā were rightly distinguished according as hiatus or combination took place, and that a later and mechanical revision has substituted -āv for the ending before hiatus, without regard to the quantity. Of a dual in -au becoming automatically -āv before vowels there is no trace in the Rigveda proper, for final -au becomes regularly either -ā or -ā u, as shewn below (subsection v).