1921.] Arrangement of Books of the Rig Veda. 327 
group.! The main groups are in descending order of the 
lengths of the hymns but generally the tail-end of each group 
is on the rising gradient, and also in all cases but one the last 
hymn ofa book is longer than the penultimate hymn. (See 
the sample diagram of book vii below.) In the main groups 
|_| a x 
| [tj : 
| |_| 
lA AG) 
M SA au SSF “|. TANS 
Hymns 10 20 30 
| 
| 
| 
—_ 
—— — 
Lengths of hymns 
— 
a 
40 sO Go 0 Fo /00 
Rig Veda Book vii 
there are exceptions to the tail-end rule, but for the ends of 
the books themselves the only exception is book ii, and the 
last two hymns of this are well known to be peculiarly 
placed. 
1 The last group of book iii consists of five hymns only and seems 
to have been curtailed for some reason or other. 
