Page:The Hymns of the Rigveda (English Translation).pdf/16

6 connection between the metrical patterns of the Avesta and the fundamental forms of Vedic metrics has been recognized and emphasized. The eight-syllable series connected in three, four, or fivefold repetition to form verses corresponds to the Gayatri, Anushtubh, and Pankti of the Veda. The fourfold eight-syllable series with a caesura after the fourth syllable corresponds to the Trishtubh. Thus, it is the fixed number of syllables in the series, the caesura, and the stanzaic connection of the series into verses that demonstrate the similarity between the Veda and Avesta. Regarding the metrical and rhythmic structure of the individual lines, we lack a solid basis for a more detailed comparison. In the Avesta, as is well known, syllables in the line are simply counted without a consistent regulation of long and short syllables. Consequently, we lack direct clues to recognize the rhythm, which must have existed in Avestan verses to some extent. But, if we focus primarily on the syllable count and quantity, the presented facts, as Westphal's keen insight has not missed, strongly suggest that the metrical art of the Indo-Iranian era occupied the same position preserved in the Avesta, one of the straightforward juxtaposition of a fixed number of syllables with indifferent quantity. In fact, it seems that even without its Iranian counterpart, Vedic metrics would likely return to this position as an overcame relic of the past. For instance, when we trace the historical development of the metrics of Trishtubh and Jagati, we can observe how, as we move from the earliest period and examine progressively younger periods, prosodic definiteness, at first limited to a specific segment of the verse, gradually expanded and gained more prominence. Thus, if we envision the same trend operating in the pre-Vedic period, we must assume that the starting point of this development is the state actually preserved in the Avesta,