But what is even more important is the fact that the occurrence of this unaccented u at the beginning of a pâda is against the very rules, or, at least, runs counter to the very observations which the authors of the Prâtisâkhya have made on the inadmissibility of an unaccented word in such a place, so that they had to insert a special provision, Prât. 978, exempting the unaccented u from this observation: anudâttam tu pâdâdau novargam vidyate padam, 'no unaccented word is found at the beginning of a pâda except u!' Although I have frequently insisted on the fact that such statements of the Prâtisâkhya are not to be considered as rules, but simply as more or less general statistical accumulations of facts actually occurring in the Veda, I have also pointed out that we are at liberty to found on these collected facts inductive observations which may assume the character of real rules. Thus, in our case, we can well understand why there should be none, or, at least, very few instances, where an unaccented word begins a pâda. We should not begin a verse with an enclitic particle in any other language either; and as in Sanskrit a verb at the

beginning of a pâda receives ipso facto the accent, and as the same applies to vocatives, no chance is left for an unaccented word in that place, except it be a particle. But the one particle that offends against this general observation is u, and the very word before which this u causes this metrical offence, is loka. Can any argument be more tempting in favour of admitting an old form uloka instead of u loka? Lokám is preceded by u in I, 93, 6; II, 30, 6; (asmín bhayá-sthe krinutam u lokám, make room for us, grant an escape to us, in this danger!) IV, 17, 17; VI, 23, 3; 7 (with urúm); 47, 8 (urúm nah lokâm, or ulokâm?); 73, 2; VII, 20, 2; 33, 5 (with urúm); 60, 9 (with urúm); 84, 2 (with urúm); 99, 4 (with urúm); IX, 92, 5; X, 13, 2; 16, 4 (sukrítâm u lokám); 30, 7; 104, 10; 180, 3 (with urúm). Loké is preceded by u in III, 29, 8; V, 1, 6; lokakrít, IX, 86, 21; X, 133, 1. In all remaining passages u loká is found at the beginning of a pâda: lokáh, III, 37, 11; lokâm, III, 2, 9 (u lokám u dvé (iti) úpa gâmím îyatuh); V, 4, II; loka-kritnúm, VIII, 15, 4; IX, 2, 8. The only passages in which loka occurs without being preceded by u, are lokám, VI, 47, 8 (see above); VIII, 100, 12; X, 14, 9; 85, 20 (amrítasya); lokâ´h, IX, 113, 9; lokâ´n, X, 90, 14; loké, IX, 113, 72; X, 85, 24.

It should be remembered that in the Gâthâs the u of words beginning with urv° does not count metrically (Hübschmann, Ein Zoroastrisches Lied, p. 37), and that in Pâli also uru must be treated as monosyllabic, in such passages as Mahâv., p. 2, line 5. The same applies to passages in the Rig-veda, such as I, 138, 3; VII, 39, 3, where the metre requires uru to be treated as one syllable. In IX, 96, 15, the original reading may have been urur iva, instead of uru-iva.