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A short note on the Vaitaliya metre.
1. Origin of the Vaitālīya and the Gathā metres. There is occasionally noticed in the Vedic Literature a composite metre with odd feet of Gāyatri and even feet of Jagati to which there can be traced the origin of the general Gāthā metres of the Jaina and the Buddhistic Sūtras which were very suitable for purposes of singing as is implied by the term Gāthā which was used in the Sūtras and the Niryuktis in connection with them. These Gāthā metres consisted of 14 matras in the odd feet and 16 to 18 in the even feet. Because they were mainly meant for singing, they were governed by the pure consideration of mātrās, the number : of letters being absolutely immaterial. The pair of iambs which generally formed the determinants at the end of the foot in the Gāyatri, and the Jagati metres obtained here also in these Gātbās although its place was not always the same. The several positions which the pair of iambs forming the determinants occupied gave rise to the several varieties of these Gāthās.
2. Relation of Vaitaliya to Gūthū.-A variety which had no fixed rule about iambs or trochees or anapaests, but which simply required 12 mātrās for the odd feet and 18 and 15 for the even feet was termed Āryā, a metre very easy to compose and very pleasant to sing. There was given the name Vaitāllya to that kind of Gāthā which was very akin to the Vedic combination of the Gāyatri and the Jagati having the same number of mātrās per foot (viz. 14 and 16 ) as the composite Vedic metre ordinarily possessed, and having the same position for the pair of iambs namely, at the end of each foot. The names Vaitālīya and Gāthā are also very old names belonging to that very period of time which gave them existence. This can be abviously seen from the name Vaitāllys given to that chapter of the Sūtrakstānga (Ch. II) which was composed in the Vaitām
