Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c12.s3.96

c12.s3.96

(ii) Final -o usually appears in the Pada-pātha as -o iti, but this is no satisfactory indication of its origin or value, for even vocatives in -o, as índo (índav) appear as índo iti. If however we exclude final -o as representing -aḥ, and also the vocatives, we find that in all other instances the vowel in the Rigveda is not capable either of combination or of shortening before vowels: and as it usually ends the first word in a clause, it may be conceived as resulting from the combination of final -ā or -a with the particle ū. This explanation however owes its attractiveness to the theory of the Pada-pātha, represented by its writing ūm íti, that the particle ū has a special character as pragṛhya or unconbinable. As this is hardly the case (see § 173 iv), there is no immediate reason to assume the presence of the particle except where the metre requires the restoration of an additional syllable, namely in ó (á ū) vii 40 1a, viii 7 33a, 22 1a; co (ca ū) vi 66 3b; nó (ná ū) *x 86 2c; pró (prá ū) i 37 2a, viii 62 1a, ix 89 1a; mó (má ū) i 38 6a; hánto (hánta ū) viii 80 5a. In i 186 10a, viii 62 1a, *x 86 2c, the ū thus obtained stands with hiatus before a vowel following (§ 124).