Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c12.s3.99

c12.s3.99

(iv) Much more frequently, it seems probable that final *-o* of the text represents the result of a metrical revision of final *-a* or *-ā*, and is betrayed as such by its systematic use in positions in which it is metrically convenient, that is, before hiatus, and (in the case of *-a*) in the positions 2T, 2D. Such a revision must have been the work of a later hand than that which recorded the value of the ‘protracted vowels,’ and has not as much historical justification. For in the case of the protracted vowels it appears that the words received special treatment from the bards (Table, § 164): but the words in which *-o* appears are used exactly as ordinary words with final short or long vowels respectively. As examples we may take the three words which appear most commonly, *ápo*, *utó*, and *úpo*.