Two: Description of the Metres


2.14 Svāgatā

In the Canon this metre has two dissimilar lines repeated to make up a verse, and the structure was still quite fluid:

Svāgatā odd lines:



Svāgatā even lines:



Note how close this is to Āpātalikā at this stage. In the later period however the even line is fixed and repeated four times, so that the structure is then defined as:

−⏑−⏑⏔¦−⏑⏑−× (x 4)

Examples: early, Mahāsamayasuttanta DN. 20 vs 3 (quoted below as the example); late: Jātakanidānakathā vs 291:   

"Chetvā For this line to scan correctly we need to read Chetva here.01 khilaṁ chetvā palighaṁ,


te caranti suddhā vimalā,

Cakkhumatā dantā susunāgā" ti.