Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c14.75

c14.75

The prevalence of short final syllables in this position in the Vasiṣṭha hymns is associated with the secondary caesura: as becomes clear when we observe that almost one-half of the verses with short eighth syllable in this group have one or other of the iambic breaks ‖ ◡ — ◡, ◡ ‖ — ◡, — ‖ — —. The preference given to final short vowels as compared with final syllables ending in consonants calls for some different explanation: the phenomenon is clearly analogous with the similar preference for final short vowels in the second place, and the two are discussed together in §§ 221, 222.