Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c9.s1.2

c9.s1.2

92. The criteria available in individual cases have already been summarized in § 59, and must now be considered in more detail. Hymns which have any of the characteristics of the popular Rigveda must generally be referred at earliest to the cretic period, and unless there is some reason to the contrary, they will be classed with the hymns x 35-84 in Group IX. Otherwise no single criteria are very certain: in other words, such change as we observe in the Rigveda proper is slow and continuous. On the other hand the concurrence of two or more indications in the same hymn may generally be trusted. Generally speaking, stronger evidence is required to justify the detachment of a hymn that belongs to a homogeneous Saṃhitā group than is sufficient to guide us in the corresponding attachment: and it will be at least prudent to err on the side of caution rather than unnecessarily to disturb the existing grouping.