History of Classical Sanskrit Literature c5.80

c5.80

Now it seems that the regular and continuous Anushtubh sloka is a metre unknown during the Vedic age, and every work written in it may at once be put down as post-Vedic. It is no valid objection that this epic sloka occurs also in Vedic hymns, that Anushtubh verses are frequently quoted in the Brahmanas, and that in some of the Sutras the Anushtubh-sloka occurs intermixed with Trishtubhs, and is used for the purpose of recapitulating what had been explained before in prose. For it is only the *uniform* employment of that metre which constitutes the characteristic mark of a new period of literature.¹