11
must end in a complete word. In addition to this, there is internal yati in the case of all metres whose lines contain ten or more syllables each. Some long metres contain more than one internal yati. No internal yati is prescribed for metres of the first nine groups for the evident reason that the lines are too short to necessitate a pause in the middle in reading. But it can, by no means, be said that the internal yati always marks the place where an average reader would need to stop for breath. These places seem more or less arbitrary.
In Telugu, there is no final yati and the internal yati indicates the recurrence of the initial syllable of the line or its equivalent rather than the breaking off of a word. In its essence, Telugu yati is more akin to alliteration than to Caesura. Sometimes, the two ideas are combined; but, as the combination is calculated, except in the case of masters, to impede the course of versification besides leading to the use of expletives, the expedient of using cognate syllables (Savarnaksharas) seems to have been hit upon. For purposes of yati, a syllable means the entire syllable i. e., consonant as well as vowel but where the alliterating syllables contain more than one consonant each, it is enough if any one of them in the one agrees with any one in the other.
