Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/616

* SANSKRIT LITERATURE. 550 Poetry falls into two olasses, the irevr narrative i|iic tt-nni'J itilOsa, •legend,' or puraiui, 'ancient tale,' and the artistic or artificial cpio, called kacya, 'poetic product.' The great epic of the Viihfibh&rata (q.v.) is by far the most impor- tant representative of the former kind. Of some- what similar free style are the eighteen I'liriiiias of MiiK-h later date. ' (See I'rUAXA.) The begin- nings of the artistic style are seen in the other great Hindu epic, the Rumui/ntta (q.v.), which the Hindus themselves rcganl as the i)rodu(t of a single author, ^'almiki. But the tinislied epic kavyu is not- evolved until the time of Kalidasa (q.v.), about the sixth century A.u. Tliis uni- versal poet and dramatist is Hie author of the two best known artistic epics, the KuiiHira-say'n- blnnti, or Birth of the War God, and the Kagliuvufiim, or Race of Kaghu. The linmdra-stnhbhina consists of seventeen cantos, the first seven of whicb are devoted to the courtship and wedding of the deities Siva and Parvati, the parents of the youthful god of war. Usually only these seven are printed, owing to the erotic character of the remaining cantos. The real theme of (he poem appears onl.v toward the end. in the account of the destruction of the demon Taraka, the object for which the god of war was born. The artistic, or rather the arti- ficial, character of the kfiri/as removes them far from the sphere of the genuine epic: their interest and power lies (^specially in their wealth of de- scriptive power and delicacv of illustration, and not so much in their porti'ayal of important char- acters or stirring action. The Rar/]iHvai)iMi, in nineteen cantos, describes in the first nine the life of Rama together with that of his dynast,v, begin- ning with his forefather Dilipa. Then in the next six cantos comes the story of Rama himself, the same theme as that of the Kamiiyana. The remaining cantos deal with the twentj -four kings who ruled as Rama's descendants in Ayodhya. The remaining kCiitius deal for the most part with themes from the Maliablifirata and Ruiiu'i- yana. The epic is commingled more and more with Ivric. didactic, and erotic elements, as well as with bombast and verbal jugglery (jiuns) of every kind. The Hindus consider six kaiyas entitled to the name 'great epic' (mahukScya) in addition to the two of Kalidasa just men- tioned, the Kirulurjunhja of Bharavi (q.v.), de- scribing a combat between Siva and Arjuna : the tiisupula-vadha of ilagha, describing how Sisu- pala, son of a king of Cedi, and cousin of Krishna, was slain b.v Vishnu: the Xaifnidhiya ascribed to Harslia (q.v.), a version of the story of Xala, King of Xishadha. the hero of a well- known episode of the ilnhfibhdratn ; and finally the BhaftilMvya. The last mentioned 'epic' is ascribed to the lyric poet Bhartrihari. It tells the story of Rama, but is composed with the avowed object of illustrating the rules of gram- mar, especially the irregular forms of the lan- guage. Every form of artistic Sanskrit literature, ■whether epic, dramatic, or confessedly Ivric, has a strong lyric cast. At the bottom 'these three kinds, in the Hindu poet's hands, are but the- matically difi"erentiatcd forms of the same poetic endowment. Ornate figures of speech, singly or in masses, luxuriant richness of coloring, car- ried into literarj' composition from the gor- geousness of the climate, flora, and fauna of India; subtle miniature painting of every sensa- SANSKRIT LITERATURE. tion and emotion — these are the common charac- teristics of Hindu artistic poetry. Lybic Poktky can hardly do more than em- phasize or specialize these conditions, yet it has its individual traits, the most important of which is the rcliiied elaboration of the siiigli- strophe in di.stinclion from continuous compo- sition. The forms of these strophes are very elaborate, and almost infinitelj' varied. No- where else in literature have poets expenilcd so much ingenuity, patience, or art upon the elab- oration of metric form : nowhere is the attempt made so i>ersistently to harmonize the senti- ment of a stanza with its metrical coloring. The most elaborated of the longer lyric com- positions are the ilCghaduta, or Cloud Mes- senger, and the litusamhCira, or Cycle of Sea- sons, both bv Kalidasa. The theme of the former is a message sent bv an exiled Yakslia (elfin) to his love b,y a eloud. The first part of the poem describes the scenes through which the cloud will pass in its course; in the second part the Yaksha pictures his far- off home a«d the charms of his beloved, whom he imagines tossing on her couch, sleepless and emaciated, through the watches of the night. When the cloud beholds her, let it tell of his own longings, how in creepers lie beholds her form, in the eyes of startled hinds her glances, in the moon her lovely face, and in peacocks' plumes her shining tresses. May the cloud, after de- livering his message, return with reassuring news, and never himself be separated from his lightning spouse. * The Cycle of Seasons is fa- mous for its descriptions of India's tropical na- ture, interspersed with expressions of human emotion. Spring, that causes the downpour of the pollen of the mango blossoms, that intoxi- cates the world with his fragrance, and swarms with honev-drunk bees, arouses sweet longings in every breast. In the rainy season, when the lover, confined at home by the downpour of the waters, shivers with cold, his long-eyed love presses him to her heart, and turns the drear.v da.v to sun- shine. The poet's deep sympathy with nature, his keen powers of observation, and his skill in depicting an Indian landscape are equaled by his subtle appreciation of every human mood. The bulk of Ivrical poetry, however, is in single miniature stanzas which suggest strongl,v the didactic sententious proverb poetr,y which the Hindus also cultivated with great success. In faot, the most famous collection of such stan- zas, that of Bliartriliari (q.v.) consists of both lyric, didactic, and philosophic poems. Bhartri- hari, who lived in the seventh century, is perhaps the most remarkable poet of India next to Kali- dasa. Apparentl.v he was also a prominent gram- marian, and he certainly was a good deal of a philosopher. His stanzas, 300 in number, are divided into three 'centuries,' the Smgura-iataka, or Century of Love, the yui-sataka, or Centuiy of Wisdom, and the Yairagya-^ataka, or Century of Renunciation. There is, of course, no action in these stanzas. Ever and again, within the narrow frame of a single stanza, the poet pic- tures the world of him for whom the wide uni- verse is woman, from whose eyes there is no escape. The second great master of the erotic stanza is Amaru, who is probabl.v of a later date than Bhartrihari. His collection is known as Amarn- 4ataka, or Century of .Amaru. He also is a mas-