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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The Gdyatra pada, of eight syllables, ending in U-. 2. The Vairaga pAda, of ten syllables, ending in ——-. 3. The Traishtubha p4da, of eleven syllables, ending in --. 4. The GAgata pada, of twelve syllables, ending in v-. Then follows an important rule, Sdtra 990: ‘The penultimate syllable,’ he says, ‘in a Gayatra and Gagata pada is light (laghu), in a Vairaga and Traishtubha pada heavy (guru).’ This is called their vritta. This word vrztta, which is generally translated by metre, had evidently originally a more special meaning. It meant the final rhythm, or if we take it literally, the turn of a line, for it is derived from vvit, to turn. Hence vritta is the same word as the Latin versus, verse; but I do not wish to decide whether the connection between the two words is historical, or simply etymological. In Latin, versus is always supposed to have meant originally a furrow, then a line, then a verse. In Sanskrit the metaphor that led to the formation of vvétta, in the sense of final rhythm, has nothing to do with ploughing. If, as I have tried to prove (Chips from a German Workshop, Varitta = versus. * See Appendix to my edition of the Pratisikhya, p. ccclvi. xcvi VEDIC HYMNS. vol. i, p. 84), the names assigned to metres and metrical language were derived from words originally referring to choregic movements, vvztta must have meant the turn, i.e. the last step of any given movement; and this turn, as determining the general character of the whole movement, would naturally be regulated by more severe rules, while greater freedom would be allowed for the rest.
2the last step of any given movement; and this turn, as determining the general character of the whole movement, would naturally be regulated by more severe rules, while greater freedom would be allowed for the rest. Having touched on this subject, I may add another fact in support of my view. The words Trishéubh and Anushtubh, names for the most common metres, are generally derived from a root stubh, to praise. I believe they should be derived from a root stubh, which is preserved in Greek, not only in orugeAds, hard, crudeAl(w, to strike hard, but in the root creud, from which ordudvaop, stamped or pressed olives or grapes, and doreygijs, untrodden (grapes), then unshaken; and in oréu8w, to shake, to ram, oroBéw, to scold, &c. In Sanskrit this root is mentioned in the Dhatup4tka X, 34, shtubhu stambhe, and it exists in a parallel form as stambh, lit. to stamp down, then to fix, to make firm, with which Bopp has compared the German stam pfen, to stamp ; (Glossarium, s. v.stambh.) I therefore look upon Trish¢ubh as meaning originally tripudium, (supposing this word to be derived from tri and pes, according to the expression in Horace, pepulisse ter pede terram, Hor. Od. iii. 18,) and I explain its name ‘ Three-step,’ by the fact that the three last syllables U—u, which form the characteristic feature of that metre, and may be called its real vritta or turn, were audibly stamped at the end of each turn or strophe. I explain Anush¢ubh, which consists of four equal padas, each of eight syllables, as the ‘ After-step,’ because each line was stamped regularly after the other, possibly by two choruses, each side taking its turn. There is one passage in the Veda where Anushtubh seems to have preserved this meaning : X, 124, 9. anu-stibham dnu farkdryamdzam {ndram n{ kikyuk kavayahk manishé. Poets by their wisdom discovered Indra dancing to an Anush/¢ubh. In V, 52, 12, &handah-stibhak kubhanydvah utsam 4 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XCVii kirfzak nrituh, in measured steps (i.e. stepping the metre) and wildly shouting the gleemen have danced toward the spring. Other names of metres which point to a similar origin, ie. to their original connection with dances, are Padapankti, ‘Step-row;’ Nyanku-sérini, ‘Roe-step;’ AbhisArini, ‘Contre-danse,’ &c. If now we return to the statement of the PratisAkhya in reference to the vvsttas, we should observe how careful its author is in his language. He does not say that the penultimate is long or short, but he simply states, that, from a metrical point of view, it must be considered as light or heavy, which need not mean more than that it must be pronounced with or without stress. The fact that the author of the Prdtisakhya uses these terms, laghu and guru, instead of hrasva, short, and dirgha, long, shows in fact that he was aware that the penultimate in these pAdas is not invariably long or short, though, from a metrical point of view, it is always heavy or light.
3The fact that the author of the Prdtisakhya uses these terms, laghu and guru, instead of hrasva, short, and dirgha, long, shows in fact that he was aware that the penultimate in these pAdas is not invariably long or short, though, from a metrical point of view, it is always heavy or light. It is perfectly true that if we keep to these four p4das, (to which one more pAda, viz. the half Vairdga, consisting of five syllables, might be added,) we can reduce nearly all the hymns of the Rig-veda to their simple elements which the ancient poets combined together, in general in a very simple way, but occasionally with greater freedom. The most important strophes, formed out of these padas, are, 1. Three Gayatra padas=the Gayatri, (24 syllables.) 2. Four Gayatra padas=the Anush¢ubh, (32 syllables.) 3. Four Vairaga padas=the Virdg, (40 syllables.) 4. Four Traish¢ubha padas=the Trish¢ubh, (44 syllables.) 5. Four Gagata padas=the Gagati, (48 syllables.) Between the Gayatri and Anush¢ubh strophes, another strophe may be formed, by mixture of Gayatra and Gagata padas, consisting of 28 syllables, and commonly called Ushzih ; likewise between the Anushfubh and the Virag, a strophe may be formed, consisting of 36 syllables, and commonly called Brzhati. In a collection of hymns, however, like that of the Rigveda, where poems of different ages, different places, and (32) g XCVill VEDIC HYMNS. different families have been put together, we must be prepared for exceptions to many rules. Thus, although the final turn of the hendecasyllabic Traish¢ubha is, as a rule, the bacchius, .—-, yet if we take, for instance, the 77th hymn of the tenth Mandala, we clearly perceive another hendecasyllabic p4da of a totally different structure, and worked up into one of the most beautiful strophes by an ancient poet. Each line is divided into two halves, the first consisting of seven syllables, being an exact counterpart of the first member of a Saturnian verse (fato Romae Metelli); the second a dijambus, answering boldly to the broken rhythm of the first member*. We have, in fact, a Trish¢ubh where the turn or the three-step, v—-, instead of being at the end, stands in the middle of the line. X, 77, 1-5, in the Pada text: 1. abhra-prusha/ na v4#d prusha vasu, havishmantad na yagwds vi-ginushak | &c. Another strophe, the nature of which has been totally misapprehended by native metricians, occurs in IV, 10. It is there called Padapankti and Mahdpadapankti; nay, attempts have been made to treat it even as an Ushzih, or as a kind of Gayatri. The real character of that strophe is so palpable that it is difficult to understand how it could have been mistaken. It consists of two lines, the first embracing three or four feet of five syllables each, having the ictus on the first and the fourth syllables, and resembling the last line of a Sapphic verse. The second line is simply
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The Gdyatra pada, of eight syllables, ending in U-. 2. The Vairaga pAda, of ten syllables, ending in ——-. 3. The Traishtubha p4da, of eleven syllables, ending in --. 4. The GAgata pada, of twelve syllables, ending in v-. Then follows an important rule, Sdtra 990: ‘The penultimate syllable,’ he says, ‘in a Gayatra and Gagata pada is light (laghu), in a Vairaga and Traishtubha pada heavy (guru).’ This is called their vritta. This word vrztta, which is generally translated by metre, had evidently originally a more special meaning. It meant the final rhythm, or if we take it literally, the turn of a line, for it is derived from vvit, to turn. Hence vritta is the same word as the Latin versus, verse; but I do not wish to decide whether the connection between the two words is historical, or simply etymological. In Latin, versus is always supposed to have meant originally a furrow, then a line, then a verse. In Sanskrit the metaphor that led to the formation of vvétta, in the sense of final rhythm, has nothing to do with ploughing. If, as I have tried to prove (Chips from a German Workshop, Varitta = versus. * See Appendix to my edition of the Pratisikhya, p. ccclvi. xcvi VEDIC HYMNS. vol. i, p. 84), the names assigned to metres and metrical language were derived from words originally referring to choregic movements, vvztta must have meant the turn, i.e. the last step of any given movement; and this turn, as determining the general character of the whole movement, would naturally be regulated by more severe rules, while greater freedom would be allowed for the rest.
2the last step of any given movement; and this turn, as determining the general character of the whole movement, would naturally be regulated by more severe rules, while greater freedom would be allowed for the rest. Having touched on this subject, I may add another fact in support of my view. The words Trishéubh and Anushtubh, names for the most common metres, are generally derived from a root stubh, to praise. I believe they should be derived from a root stubh, which is preserved in Greek, not only in orugeAds, hard, crudeAl(w, to strike hard, but in the root creud, from which ordudvaop, stamped or pressed olives or grapes, and doreygijs, untrodden (grapes), then unshaken; and in oréu8w, to shake, to ram, oroBéw, to scold, &c. In Sanskrit this root is mentioned in the Dhatup4tka X, 34, shtubhu stambhe, and it exists in a parallel form as stambh, lit. to stamp down, then to fix, to make firm, with which Bopp has compared the German stam pfen, to stamp ; (Glossarium, s. v.stambh.) I therefore look upon Trish¢ubh as meaning originally tripudium, (supposing this word to be derived from tri and pes, according to the expression in Horace, pepulisse ter pede terram, Hor. Od. iii. 18,) and I explain its name ‘ Three-step,’ by the fact that the three last syllables U—u, which form the characteristic feature of that metre, and may be called its real vritta or turn, were audibly stamped at the end of each turn or strophe. I explain Anush¢ubh, which consists of four equal padas, each of eight syllables, as the ‘ After-step,’ because each line was stamped regularly after the other, possibly by two choruses, each side taking its turn. There is one passage in the Veda where Anushtubh seems to have preserved this meaning : X, 124, 9. anu-stibham dnu farkdryamdzam {ndram n{ kikyuk kavayahk manishé. Poets by their wisdom discovered Indra dancing to an Anush/¢ubh. In V, 52, 12, &handah-stibhak kubhanydvah utsam 4 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XCVii kirfzak nrituh, in measured steps (i.e. stepping the metre) and wildly shouting the gleemen have danced toward the spring. Other names of metres which point to a similar origin, ie. to their original connection with dances, are Padapankti, ‘Step-row;’ Nyanku-sérini, ‘Roe-step;’ AbhisArini, ‘Contre-danse,’ &c. If now we return to the statement of the PratisAkhya in reference to the vvsttas, we should observe how careful its author is in his language. He does not say that the penultimate is long or short, but he simply states, that, from a metrical point of view, it must be considered as light or heavy, which need not mean more than that it must be pronounced with or without stress. The fact that the author of the Prdtisakhya uses these terms, laghu and guru, instead of hrasva, short, and dirgha, long, shows in fact that he was aware that the penultimate in these pAdas is not invariably long or short, though, from a metrical point of view, it is always heavy or light.
3The fact that the author of the Prdtisakhya uses these terms, laghu and guru, instead of hrasva, short, and dirgha, long, shows in fact that he was aware that the penultimate in these pAdas is not invariably long or short, though, from a metrical point of view, it is always heavy or light. It is perfectly true that if we keep to these four p4das, (to which one more pAda, viz. the half Vairdga, consisting of five syllables, might be added,) we can reduce nearly all the hymns of the Rig-veda to their simple elements which the ancient poets combined together, in general in a very simple way, but occasionally with greater freedom. The most important strophes, formed out of these padas, are, 1. Three Gayatra padas=the Gayatri, (24 syllables.) 2. Four Gayatra padas=the Anush¢ubh, (32 syllables.) 3. Four Vairaga padas=the Virdg, (40 syllables.) 4. Four Traish¢ubha padas=the Trish¢ubh, (44 syllables.) 5. Four Gagata padas=the Gagati, (48 syllables.) Between the Gayatri and Anush¢ubh strophes, another strophe may be formed, by mixture of Gayatra and Gagata padas, consisting of 28 syllables, and commonly called Ushzih ; likewise between the Anushfubh and the Virag, a strophe may be formed, consisting of 36 syllables, and commonly called Brzhati. In a collection of hymns, however, like that of the Rigveda, where poems of different ages, different places, and (32) g XCVill VEDIC HYMNS. different families have been put together, we must be prepared for exceptions to many rules. Thus, although the final turn of the hendecasyllabic Traish¢ubha is, as a rule, the bacchius, .—-, yet if we take, for instance, the 77th hymn of the tenth Mandala, we clearly perceive another hendecasyllabic p4da of a totally different structure, and worked up into one of the most beautiful strophes by an ancient poet. Each line is divided into two halves, the first consisting of seven syllables, being an exact counterpart of the first member of a Saturnian verse (fato Romae Metelli); the second a dijambus, answering boldly to the broken rhythm of the first member*. We have, in fact, a Trish¢ubh where the turn or the three-step, v—-, instead of being at the end, stands in the middle of the line. X, 77, 1-5, in the Pada text: 1. abhra-prusha/ na v4#d prusha vasu, havishmantad na yagwds vi-ginushak | &c. Another strophe, the nature of which has been totally misapprehended by native metricians, occurs in IV, 10. It is there called Padapankti and Mahdpadapankti; nay, attempts have been made to treat it even as an Ushzih, or as a kind of Gayatri. The real character of that strophe is so palpable that it is difficult to understand how it could have been mistaken. It consists of two lines, the first embracing three or four feet of five syllables each, having the ictus on the first and the fourth syllables, and resembling the last line of a Sapphic verse. The second line is simply
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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