Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c17.2

c17.2

254. In the first three chapters of this book a general survey was made of the metre, language, and subject-matter of the hymns of the Rigveda, with the object of finding a basis for the more exact metrical investigations which were to follow. As a result of this survey the hymns were rearranged, and the division into ten Maṇḍalas was replaced by a division into ten ‘groups,’ each group being based upon one or more of the collections found in the Saṃhitā text, but being modified by the detachment and attachment of individual hymns: and the ten groups were arranged in a rough chronological order, in accordance with their general correspondence to the respective types of the ‘bardic,’ ‘normal,’ ‘cretic,’ and ‘popular’ periods.