A History of Sanskrit Literature c6.30

c6.30

There are three accents in the *Rigveda* as well as the other sacred texts. The most important of these is the rising accent, called *ud-ātta* ("raised"), which corresponds to the Greek acute. Comparative philology shows that in Sanskrit it rests on the same syllable as bore it in the proto-Aryan language. In Greek it is generally on the same syllable as in Sanskrit, except when interfered with by the specifically Greek law restricting the accent to one of the last three syllables. Thus the Greek *heptá* corresponds to the Vedic *saptá*, "seven." The low-pitch accent, which precedes the acute, is called the *anudātta* ("not raised"). The third is the falling accent, which usually follows the acute, and is called *svarita* ("sounded").