Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c14.90

c14.90

| Period | Archaic | Stroph. | Normal | Cretic | Popular |
| Group | Lyric I | Bhar. III | Vas. IV | Vāma. VI | Viśv. VII | Kutsa VIII | x 29-80 IX | X |
| No. of verses | 736 | 1524 | 1621 | 1598 | 1407 | 685 | 1155 | 3445 |
| THE CAESURA: | | | | | | | | |
| Caesura after 4th syllable | 448 | 468 | 440 | 496 | 537 | 582 | 519 | 519 |
| " " 5th " | 496 | 478 | 536 | 480 | 458 | 410 | 467 | 463 |
| " in compound " | 8 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| " after 3rd syllable¹ | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Secondary caesura: | | | | | | | | |
| with caes. after 3rd | 3 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| with break, ‖ - - | 22 | 13 | 41 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| " ‖ - - ² | 40 | 42 | 107 | 24 | 61 | 15 | 34 | 17 |
| " - ‖ - | 5 | 15 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
| THE OPENING: | | | | | | | | |
| (a) with early caesura: | | | | | | | | |
| Regular, ⏑ - - | 130 | 163 | 157 | 208 | 220 | 173 | 177 | 174 |
| " - - - | 151 | 143 | 154 | 161 | 152 | 235 | 176 | 172 |
| Syncopated, ⏑ - ⏑ | 58 | 40 | 37 | 35 | 42 | 68 | 58 | 63 |
| Other forms | 109 | 122 | 92 | 101 | 123 | 106 | 108 | 110 |
| (b) with late caesura: | | | | | | | | |
| Pentad, ⏑ - - - - | 115 | 91 | 131 | 182 | 169 | 139 | 150 | 132 |
| Regular, ⏑ - - - - | 113 | 98 | 128 | 77 | 105 | 84 | 69 | 82 |
| " - - - - | 91 | 94 | 85 | 85 | 81 | 58 | 86 | 98 |
| " ⏑ - - - | 78 | 79 | 106 | 75 | 74 | 48 | 61 | 61 |
| Other forms | 99 | 116 | 86 | 61 | 29 | 81 | 101 | 90 |
| THE BREAK: | | | | | | | | |
| (a) after early caesura: | | | | | | | | |
| Normal, ‖ ⏑ ⏑ - | 201 | 206 | 217 | 233 | 295 | 286 | 245 | 270 |
| Cretic, ‖ - ⏑ - | 67 | 72 | 67 | 77 | 142 | 170 | 136 | 119 |
| ‖ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ | 60 | 94 | 65 | 78 | 57 | 50 | 80 | 80 |
| ‖ - ⏑ ⏑ | 19 | 32 | 34 | 19 | 20 | 62 | 46 | 37 |
| Iambic, ‖ - ⏑ ¹ | 33 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Irregular forms | 49 | 30 | 9 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 11 |
| (b) with late caesura: | | | | | | | | |
| Normal, - ‖ ⏑ ⏑ | 233 | 221 | 248 | 285 | 248 | 232 | 290 | 279 |
| - ‖ - ⏑ | 162 | 167 | 118 | 145 | 130 | 137 | 122 | 153 |
| Iambic, - ‖ - ¹ | 28 | 21 | 31 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 7 |
| - ‖ - ¹ | 13 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| Irregular, ⏑ ‖ ⏑ | 17 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| THE CADENCE: | | | | | | | | |
| Short eighth syllable: | | | | | | | | |
| with secondary caesura | 3 | 5 | 19 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| final vowel | 30 | 21 | 15 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 |
| final consonant | 18 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| otherwise | 24 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 4 |
| Short tenth | 34 | 34 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Long ninth | 8 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Irregular | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Catalectic Jagatī | 23 | - | - | - | - | 43 | 44 | 70 |
| Extended Triṣṭubh | - | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 45 |
| Hypersyllabic verses | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| SYLLABIC VARIATIONS: | | | | | | | | |
| Decasyllabic verses³ | 21 | 25 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 10 |
| Hybrid " | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |