Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c14.25

c14.25

In a few cases, chiefly in the archaic period or in the popular Rigveda, there is some difficulty in determining the position of the caesura. In ‘decasyllabic’ and ‘hybrid’ verses there is always a well-marked caesura, but it is not easy to say in each case whether it should be considered ‘early’ or ‘late’: these verses are further considered in §§ 225–230. Elsewhere we appear to find a weak caesura, namely either (i) a caesura dividing the two parts of a compound, or (ii) a caesura following the third syllable. Both forms of the weak caesura are characteristic of the archaic period, and are further considered in § 214.