Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c15.120

c15.120

(vi) There are about 170 Jagatī hymns in the Rigveda: of these nearly 100 are composed in Jagatī alone, about 40 have a concluding Triṣṭubh verse, and about 35 have some further admixture of Triṣṭubh. The relation of these varieties is shewn in the annexed Table. In the archaic period irregular combinations of Jagatī and Triṣṭubh are proportionately common, corresponding to the uneven lyric metres: in the strophic and normal periods pure Jagatī is most common, but in the latter the use of final Triṣṭubh stanzas begins to assert itself, and leads to greater irregularities in the two last periods. The history of contamination within the stanza is exactly similar: see § 223.