Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c13.13

c13.13

A division into feet of two syllables is not traceable in the Rigveda, and therefore the usual terms applied to the Greek and Latin classical metres are unsuitable. There is some practical convenience in speaking of an ictus which falls normally on the even syllables, but is transferred from the second to the third in the ‘syncopated’ form: and also in speaking of the ‘general iambic rhythm’ of the verse as a whole: but it must not be assumed that the ideas which these words connote were present to the Vedic poets.