Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c13.151

c13.151

200. It might be misleading to say that the two forms of the Anuṣṭubh verse are used side by side, but to a certain extent they overlap. In the Rigveda proper there is no hymn or fragment which has the character of any one of the groups found in the popular Rigveda: but the Kaṇva hymns possibly shew the beginnings of the new rhythm both in semi-cadence and in the re-opening, and these features are clearly marked in the Anuṣṭubh hymns of the cretic period. On the other hand the hymns of Maṇḍalas i, iii and the Mahāpaṅkti hymns of viii 39-42, x 131-134 shew no clear trace of this developement. In the popular Rigveda there are five hymns which represent the old rhythm, namely i 191 10-12, x 59 8-10, 87 22-25, 141, and 152: but they comprise a trifling proportion of the Anuṣṭubh verse of that part of the Rigveda.