Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c17.s2.1

c17.s2.1

| Refer to § | Variation | In trimeter verses | In normal dimeter vv. |
| | Period | Ar. St. N. Cr. Pop. | Ar. St. N. Cr. P. |
| | Whole no. of verses | 4499 4458 5815 4942 3463 | 4368 3928 3257 618 343 |
| | **A. ARCHAIC** | | |
| 121ac¹ | Hiatus after -ă¹ | 22 9 2 2 5 | 30 12 7 – 8 |
| 142² | Resolutions -aa, -aam³ | 40 13 3 3 5 | 43 15 7 12 15 |
| 170 iibc | Shortened stems of nouns⁴ | – – – – – | 2 1 1 – – |
| 190 v⁵ | Irregular cadence | 16 6 2 2 3 | 21 14 5 15 26 |
| 191 i, ii | Short dimeter verses⁶ | – – – – – | 20 5 4 2 8 |
| 214 i, ii | Weak caesura⁷ | 17 8 4 2 2 | |
| 218 i | Break || – – ⁷ | 16 8 2 2 1 | |
| 218 vii | Irregular breaks (late caes.) | 11 4 3 3 2 | |
| 220 ii | Short tenth syllable | 34 10 4 5 3 | |
| 226 | Rests, with iambic rhythm⁸ | 35 9 2 2 1 | |
| 228 | Neutral rests | 18 6 2 2 7 | |
| | **Total** | 209 73 24 23 29 | 116 47 24 29 57 |
| | **B. ARCHAIC AND STROPHIC** | | |
| 123 ac | Hiatus after -ā | 6 5 1 1 1 | 9 4 1 0 4 |
| 143 iii | -aam in dimeter cadence | | 54 43 14 19 4 |
| 162 3, 4⁹ | -hi, ū-, -athe, -ate | 4 5 1 1 1 | 8 7 2 2 – |
| 190 i | Long fifth syllable | | 18 10 6 9 30 |
| 190 ii | Short sixth syllable | | 72 40 23 17 42 |
| 213 ii, iii | Secondary caesura¹⁰ | 15 24 8 3 3 | |
| 218 iii | Break || – – ⁷ | 14 10 2 3 2 | |
| 218 v | Break || – – – | 6 4 1 1 1 | |
| 220 i c | Short eighth not final | 14 9 2 3 4 | |
| 227 i | Pentad verses | 5 2 1 0 2 | |
| | **Total** | 64 59 16 12 14 | 161 104 46 47 80 |
| | **C. OTHER EARLY VARIATIONS** | | |
| 121b, 123b | Hiatus -a, -ā at caesura | 20 10 5 3 5 | |
| 213 i | Sec. caes.: Vāsisthī v. | 45 62 37 18 17 | |
| 213 iv | ” with break – || – | 13 14 8 4 3 | |
| 218 ii | Break || – – ⁷ | 20 27 12 7 7 | |
| 220 i ab | Short eighth (final syll.) | 31 26 13 6 10 | |
| | **Total** | 129 139 75 38 42 | |
| | **D. Cretic break (|| – – –)** | 74 72 109 138 121 | |
| | **E. LATER VARIATIONS** | | |
| 122b¹¹ | Comb. of sá, duals, iva | 6 6 9 19 5 | 3 4 3 5 9 |
| 136 3, 137 2 | ” divyá, sakhyá, sūrya¹² | 3 2 5 8 8 | 7 7 10 2 – |
| 144 | Resolution -bhīām, -bhiaḥ¹³ | [4 1 4 3 3] | 3 5 10 14 18 |
| 159 i, ii | -a, -tha, -ta shortened | 1 2 1 2 3 | 5 3 4 2 9 |
| 223 i | Catalectic Jagatī | 5 3 2 10 9 | |
| | **Total** | 15 13 17 39 25 | 18 19 27 23 36 |
| | **F. POPULAR PERIOD** | | |
| 125 | Comb. of -i, -u, etc.¹⁴ | 2 2 5 5 15 | 3 4 4 7 19 |
| 135 | ý ṿ consonantal | – 1 1 0 4 | – – – – 4 |
| 160 4, 161 3 | u, yádi¹⁵ | 1 2 1 3 8 | – 2 – – 1 |
| 171 v, 172 i | -ā u, -o before hiatus | 1 2 1 1 4 | 1 1 1 – – |
| 223 ii | Extended Triṣṭubh | 2 1 1 3 36 | |
| 229 | Hybrid verse | 2 – – 1 6 | |
| | **Total** | 8 8 9 13 73 | 4 7 5 7 24 |