Page:The Sanskrit Drama.djvu/246

Rh rests ever on thy crest. May Hara guard you, Hara to whom Çivā once spake playfully when they diced.'

This amusing play on the unwillingness of Çiva to prolong the dicing after he has unsuccessfully staked his necklace of skulls and serpents, and his clothing of ashes and hide, is followed by a wearisome eulogy of the glances of the god in the Tāṇḍava dance, alluding to the great moments in his history. Similar bad taste is shown in the curious and unusual form of the last verse of the drama:

yenādiçya prayogaṁ ghanapulakabhṛtā nāṭakasyāsya harṣād

vastrālaṁkārahemnām pratidinam akṛçā rāçayaḥ sampradattāḥ

tasya kṣattraprasūter bhramatu jagad idaṁ Kārttikeyasya kīrtiḥ

pāre kṣīrāmbhusindho ravikaviyaçasā sārdham agresareṇa.

'Through all the universe beyond the ocean of milk, heralded by the fame of his bard, the sun, may the fame wander of that scion of heroism, that god of war, who bade this drama be performed and who in keen delight at the pleasure he found in it gave daily to the poet abundant store of raiment, jewels and gold.' Such a mode of immortalizing himself, and his patron can hardly be regarded as precisely dignified, and it certainly is not in harmony with the traditions of the drama.