Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c13.110

c13.110

There are about 150 verses of four syllables in the Rigveda. All of them have strict iambic rhythm (as tám īmahe above) with the following exceptions. In i 84 7–9 the refrain is índra aṅgá which (if it is metrical at all, and not a prose formula) has trochaic rhythm. In ii 22 (in which the division into verses is very uncertain) we find tuviśúṣmaḥ, sátya índuḥ; in vi 51 15d gopā́ amā́: there being altogether eight occurrences of these variations.