Mopern Imitrerion cr THE Vidas, &c, 49 
“Vrittam on account of short syllables, occuring in the second and third 
‘places, and two, numbered eight-five and eighty, the first consisting of a 
spondee followed by three iambics, and the second wholly of the latter 
feet, on account of the enlire prevalence in them of the iambic rhythm, 
for which reason, they are preferred 1 in the Anushtub Vritiain of the Véda, 
_and occurin every line more frequently than. any other Species,* 
Or the other two species of verse, the Trishtup Vriitam is almost pecu- 
liar to the Védam being seldom found in other works, and the Gdya- 
triyam is entively so, The Trishtup stanza consists of four verses, the 
measure of which is dactylic, being formed by adding a long and two 
short syllables to any of the six species of Anushitup Chhandas, numbered 
in the original scheme from one hundred and thirteen to one hundred 
and eighteen: other variations occasionally occur, but the rhythm of this 
stanza is much more limited than that. of the Anushiup or the Gaya- 
triyam. ‘The Gayatriyam, so called from the most holy of texts, the 
Gayatri, being written in. this measures is a stanza of three lines, each 
containing eight syllables, but if is usually divided into a long line of 
sixteen and a short one of eight, and should contain, therefore, twenty- 
four syllables, though frequently, as in the Gayatre itself, it falls short 
by one of this number. The rhythm of the Gdyatriya.d loes.not differ - 
from that of the Anushtub Vritiam. 
* Ly follows from what is heré said; that the prevalent measure of the Yéidas is nearly the same as 
English blank verse, or regarding , also, the length of the line, , ex actly that, formerly confined to 
lyrical composition, but considered by modern poets as not unworthy of the epic muse. As the com- 
position of the Véda must unquestionably be referred to a very early period of antiquity, the iambic 
metre ought, probably, to be considered as the first step in the invention of measured language. 
N 
