Page:The Sanskrit Drama.djvu/121

116 love.' When Rāma falls at his father's feet on the order being given for his coronation, he tells us:

samaṁ bāṣpeṇa patatā tasyopari mamāpy adhaḥ

pitur me kleditau pādau mamāpi kleditaṁ çiraḥ.

'My father's feet were wet with tears I let fall on them, and my head was wet with tears he let fall over me.' When Devakī must yield, for the sake of saving it, her child, it is said of her:

hṛdayeneha taran̄gair dvidhābhūteva gacchati

yathā nabhasi toye ca candralekhā dvidhā kṛtā.

'She is divided; her heart remaineth here, her body goeth yonder, as in cloud and water the digit of the moon is divided.' Rāvaṇa's contempt for Rāma as a foe is forcibly expressed:

kathaṁ lambasataḥ siṅho mṛgeṇa vinipātyate gajo vā sumahān mattaḥ sṛgālena nihanyate?

'Can the deer bring low the lion with flowing mane? Can the jackal slay the mighty elephant in his wrath?' In the Cārudatta the darkness is happily described:

sulabhaçaranam āçrayo bhayānāṁ: vanagahanaṁ timiraṁ ca tulyam eva

ubhayam api hi rakṣyate 'ndhakāre: janayati yaç ca bhayāni yaç ca bhītaḥ.

'Affording easy refuge, yet abodes of fear, the forest depths and darkness are akin; for the shadows guard alike him who feareth and him who causeth fear.' More ambitious is a verse given in the Subhāṣitāvali:

kaṭhinahṛdaye muñca krodhaṁ sukhapratighātakam

likhati divasaṁ yātaṁ yātaṁ Yamaḥ kila mānini

vayasi taruṇe naitad yuktaṁ cale ca samāgame

bhavati kalaho yāvat tāvad varaṁ subhage ratam.

'Hard-hearted maiden, lay aside the anger that doth impede our joy; death entereth on his register every day as it goeth, disdainful one; not meet is this in thy tender youth, for love is fleeting; rather spend in love the time we lose in this quarrel.'

The simple figures of speech are freely used by Bhāsa, and he shows as usual a marked fondness for the accumulation of similar sounds, as in sajalajaladhara, sanīranīrada, or kuladayaṁ hanti