An Outline of the Metres in the Pāḷi Canon

An Outline of the Metres in the Pāḷi Canon - 32
2.15 The bar metres (gaṇacchandas)
Once a measure count was established, it was not long before a
second structural principle was introduced, which was to organise
the lines into bars, or gaṇas, normally having 4 measures to the bar,
which may therefore take one of the following forms:
−− or ⏑−⏑ or ⏑⏑− or −⏑⏑ or ⏑⏑⏑⏑
The rhythm of these metres is defined by the alternation of two
rhythmic structures:
⏔−¦⏑−⏑
In the descriptions that follow it should be borne in mind that
resolution of a heavy syllable was always deemed acceptable, which
means that any of the first three alternatives outlined above may
appear as ⏑⏑⏑⏑. By applying the rule of resolution discussed in
1.15 above it is possible to identify the underlying structure, thus:
⏑,⏑⏑⏑ = ⏑−⏑ with resolution; ,⏑⏑⏑⏑ = −⏑⏑ ; ⏑⏑,⏑⏑ = ⏑⏑−.
(Of course there would have to be double resolution for it to equal
−−).
2.16 Old Gīti
This appears to be the earliest of the bar metres, and indeed, is most
probably a transitional metre between mattācchandas and
gaṇacchandas metres. There are two structures to the metre: the first
is the normal form; the second is an extended form, which after the
word break, restarts with a full gaṇa, thus:
Normal structure:
Extended structure:
, (x 2)
, (x 2)