The fruitful earth supports, on both alike The righteous after death shall dwell in bliss'. Into the depths of which bad men shall fall Headlong, and mourn their doom for countless years. The tree screens with its leaves, the man who fells it 2. Mahā-bh. XII. 5528. What need has he who subjugates himself To live secluded in a hermit's cell? Where'er resides the self-subduing sage, That place to him is like a hermitage. Maha-bh. XII. 5961. Do good to-day, time passes, Death is near. Like a ferocious wolf upon a sheep. Death comes when his approach is least expected. Is finished, or its purposes accomplished. 1 Compare St. Matthew xiii. 43, xxv. 46. 2 This verse occurs in Hitopadeśa I. 60. Cf. Rom. xii. 20. Professor H. H. Wilson was induced to commence the study of Sanskrit by reading somewhere that this sentiment was to be met with in Sanskrit literature. Death carries off the weak and strong alike, Maha-bh. XII. 6534. The building of a house is fraught with troubles, And ne'er brings comfort; therefore, cunning serpents And creeping in, abide there at their ease. Mahā-bh. XII. 6619. Just as the track of birds that cleave the air Mahā-bh. XII. 6763, 12156. Let none reject the meanest suppliant Mahā-bh. XIII. 3212. Time passes, and the man who older grows Mahā-bh. XIII. 3676, 368a. This is the sum of all true righteousness- In causing pleasure, or in giving pain, In doing good, or injury to others, 1 The order of the text has been slightly changed in this translation, and a few liberties taken in the wording of it. In granting, or refusing a request, A man obtains a proper rule of action No being perishes before his time, Maha-bh. XIII. 5571. Though by a hundred arrows pierced; but when Mahā-bh. XIII. 7607. Before infirmities creep o'er thy flesh; Before decay impairs thy strength and mars Amass that wealth which thieves cannot abstract, Mahā-bh. XIII. 12084. Heaven's gate is very narrow and minute, Maha-bh. XIV. 2784. Just heaven is not so pleased with costly gifts, As with the merest trifle set apart From honest gains, and sanctified by faith ®. Mahā-bh. XIV. 2788. 1 Compare St. Matthew xxii. 39, St. Luke vi. 31. 2 This occurs also in Hitopadeśa II. 15. 4 3 Compare Eccles. xii. 1. Compare St. Matthew vi. 19, Job xxi. 23. Compare St. Matthew vi. 1-4, St. Mark xii. 43, 44. LECTURE XV. The Artificial Poems. Dramas. Purāņas. Tantras. Niti-śāstras. I CAN only notice very briefly the remaining classes of Indian writings which follow on the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahā-bhārata. In their religious bearing, as constituting part of Smṛiti, and as chiefly drawn from the two great Epics, the eighteen Purāņas possess the next claim on our attention. It will be convenient, however, to introduce here an enumeration of some of the more celebrated artificial poems and dramas, which are connected with the Epics, adding a few explanations and examples, but reserving the fuller consideration of these and other departments of Sanskrit literature to a future opportunity. The Artificial Poems. Some of the best known of the artificial poems are: 1. The Raghu-vansa or 'history of Raghu's race,' in nineteen chapters, by Kalidasa, on the same subject as the Rāmāyaṇa, viz. the history of Rāma-candra, but beginning with a longer account of his ancestors; 2. the Kumāra-sambhava, by Kalidasa, on the birth of Kumāra' or Kārttikeya, god of war, son of Siva and Pārvati,-originally in sixteen cantos, of which only seven are usually edited, though nine more have been printed in the Pandit at Benares; 3. the Megha-duta, 'cloud-messenger,' also by Kālidāsa-a poem of 116 verses, in the Mandākrānta metre (well edited by Professor Johnson), describing a message sent by a banished Yaksha to his wife in the Himalayas; a cloud being personified and converted into the messenger; 4. the Kirātārjunīya, 'battle of the Kirāta and Arjuna,' by Bhāravi, in eighteen cantos, on a subject taken from the fourth chapter of Mahā-bhārata III, viz. the penance performed by Arjuna, one of the Pānṇḍava princes, and his combat with Siva disguised as a Kirāta or wild mountaineer (see p. 393); 5. the Sisupāla-badha or destruction of Sisu-pala,' G g a poem in twenty cantos, by Magha, on a subject taken from the seventh chapter of the Sabha-parvan of the Maha-bhārata, viz. the slaying of the impious Sisu-pāla by Krishna at a Rājasūya sacrifice performed by Yudhishthira (see p. 392); 6. the Naishadha or Naishadhiya, by Sri-harsha', on a subject drawn from an episode in the sixth chapter of the Vanaparvan of the Maha-bharata, viz. the history and adventures of Nala, king of Nishadha. The above six are sometimes called Maha-kavyas, 'great poems,' not with reference to their length (for they are generally short), but with reference to the subjects of which they treat. To these may be added: 7. The Ritu-samhāra or 'collection of the seasons,' a short but celebrated poem by Kalidasa, on the six seasons of the year (viz. Grishma, the hot season; Varshā, the rains; Sarad, autumn; Hemanta, the cold season; Śisira, the dewy season; Vasanta, the spring); 8. the Nalodaya or 'rise of Nala,' an artificial poem, also ascribed to one Kālidāsa, but probably not the composition of the celebrated poet of that name, on much the same subject as the Naishadha, and describing especially the restoration of the fallen Nala to prosperity and power; 9. the Bhaṭṭikāvya, 'poem of Bhatti,' according to some the work of Bhartṛi-hari or his son, on the same subject as the Rāmāyaṇa, written at Valabhi (Ballabhi) in the reign of Sridhara-sena (probably the king who reigned in Gujarāt from about A.D. 530-544); its aim being to illustrate the rules of Sanskrit grammar, as well as the figures of poetry and rhetoric, by introducing examples of all possible forms and constructions, as well as of the Alankaras (see p. 454); it is divided into two great divisions, viz. Sabda-lakshana, illustration of grammar,' and Kāvya-lakshana, ‘illustration of poetry,' together comprising twenty-two chapters; 10. the Raghavapāṇḍaviya, an artificial poem by Kavi-rāja, giving a narrative of the acts of both the descendants of Raghu and Pandu, in such language that it may be interpreted as a history of either one or the other family; 11. the Amaru-sataka or Amarū-śataka, ‘hundred verses of Amaru,' on erotic subjects, to which a mystical interpretation is given, especially as they 1 He is supposed to have lived about the year 1000 (cf. note, p. 486). This Sri-harsha was the greatest of all sceptical philosophers, and wrote a book called Khandana-khanda-khadya for the refutation of all other systems. It is alluded to in Naishadha VI. 113 (Premaćandra's commentary). The commentator Nārāyaṇa does not seem to have understood this. There are some philosophical chapters in the Naishadha. |