A History of Sanskrit Literature c13.7

c13.7

Sanskrit literature, then, resembles that of the earlier Vedic age in being almost entirely metrical. But the metres in which it is written, though nearly all based on those of the Veda, are different. The bulk of the literature is composed in the *çloka*, a development of the Vedic *anushṭubh* stanza of four octosyllabic lines; but while all four lines ended iambically in the prototype, the first and third line have in the *çloka* acquired a trochaic rhythm. The numerous other metres employed in the classical poetry have become much more elaborate than their Vedic originals by having the quantity of every syllable in the line strictly determined.