Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c14.21

c14.21

(ii) The complete investigation of trimeter rhythm involves the tabulation of the quantity of almost every syllable in the trimeter verses of the Rigveda, in connexion with the position of the caesura in each case. In the following points only it has seemed sufficient to take samples of the rhythm: (a) for the initial syllable; (b) for the ‘regular’ forms of the opening (§ 215); (c) for the occurrences of a natural pause after the eighth syllable. As in dimeter verse, we have no means of determining with completeness the quantity of final syllables, but feel justified in assuming that it is metrically indifferent.