The main principle of Vedic meter is measurement by the number of syllables. The metrical unit is the pada ("foot"), generally of eight, eleven, or twelve syllables; these are termed gāyatrī, and jagatī respectively, after meters of the same name. A ("verse") typically has three or four padas, with a range of two to seven found in the corpus of Vedic poetry. Verses may mix padas of different lengths, and strophes of two or three verses (respectively, pragātha and ) are common.
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