मुक्तेषु रश्मिषु निरायतपूर्वकाया निष्कम्पचामरशिखा निभृतोर्द्धकर्णीः । आत्मोद्धतैरपि रजोभिर् अलङ्घनीया धावन्त्यमी मृगजवाक्षमयेव रथ्याः ॥ ८ ॥ را had to be supplied by the imaginations of the spectators, assisted by the gesticulations of the actors. Thus, though the car of Dushyanta might have been represented on the stage, the horses would be left to the imagination, and the speed of the chariot would only be indicated by the gesticulations of the charioteer. In a subsequent part of this Act, Sakuntala is pursued by a bee, which, by her gestures, she tries to beat off; but we are not to suppose that an artificial bee, suspended by an invisible wire, was brought upon the stage, as might be attempted in a modern theatre. 'The reins being loosed, these chariot-horses run along as if with impatience of the speed of the deer [i.e., impatient or emulous of its speed], having the fore-part of their bodies well stretched out, having the chowrie which forms their crests motionless, having the upper [part of their] ears depressed [or bent backwards], not to be overtaken even by the dust raised by themselves.'-The chámark or chowrie was formed of the white bushy tail of the Yak or Bos grunniens, and was used for whisking off flies; also as an emblem of princely rank. It was placed as an ornament between the ears of horses, like the plume of the war-horse of chivalry. The velocity of the chariot caused it to lose its play and appear fixed in one direction, like a flag borne rapidly against the wind. A similar idea occurs in the commencement of the Vikramorvasí, chitrárambha-viníschalam haya'sirasi chámaram. There is some difficulty in nibhritorddhwa-karnáh. The commentators explain nibhrita by nischala, motionless." This meaning is not supported by the dictionary, nor by any passage with which I am acquainted. The most usual sense of nibhrita is 'secret,' 'modest,' 'humble,' 'low' [Git. Gov. ii., 11; ii., 21. Hitop. passim.] Hence may easily flow the acceptation depressed,' 'bent down.' The ears of a horse while running at full speed are not exactly erect, but rather bent backwards so as to present the Verse 8. VASANTATILAKÁ (a variety of the SAKKARÍ or SARKARI) containing fourteen syllables to the half-line, each half-line being alike. राजा ॥ सहर्षं ॥ सत्यम् अतीत्य हरितो हरींश्च वर्तन्ते वाजिनः । तथा हि यद् श्रलोके सूक्ष्मं ब्रजति सहसा तद् विपुलतां यद् श्रर्द्धे विच्छिन्नं भवति कृतसन्धानमिव तत् । प्रकृत्या यद् वक्रं तदपि समरेखं नयनयोर् न मे दूरे किञ्चित् चणमपि न पार्श्वे रथर्जवात् ॥ ८ ॥ least resistance to the wind. This interpretation is confirmed by the reading of the Bongálí MSS., chyuta-karna-bhanga, 'having the flaccid part of tho ear lowered;' but if the sense nischala be insisted on, translate—having the cars immovably crect.' 'Truly, the horses are [or appear as if] outstripping the horses of the Sun, and the horses of Indra,' i.e., the speed of the chariot seems like that of the Wind and the Sun; for Indra, as god of the firmament presides over the forty-nine maruts or winds. Such seems to be the sense of the passage. Harito is taken by the commentators to be the genitive case of harit, 'the sun,' and harin as the acc. case plural of hari, ‘a horse.' But the cha after harin indicates that both harito and harin are acc. cases after atitya. The interpretation I have given rests on the authority of the Rig-veda, where we find hart in the dual, and harayah and haribhih in the plural [I. 16, 1; 101, 10; 16, 4; 52, 8] for the horses of Indra;' and haritah in the plural. for the seven horses of Súrya or the Sun' [I. 50, 8; 115, 4]. In the Nirukta [i. 15] the different vehicles of the gods are given, and among them hari Indrasya, haritah ádityasya. Hence Indra is called hari-haya or hari-váhana [Vikramorvasí, Act 3], or in the Rig-veda, hari-yojana; and the Sun is called harida'swa. One of the names of the Sun is saptáswa 'having seven horses.' The Bengálí MSS. read katham atitya harinam harayo, etc., but the harito harinscha is supported by all the Devanagarí MSS., and by a parallel passage in the beginning of the Vikramorvaśí, anena ratha-vegena vainateyam api ásádayeyam. 2 'That which in my sight (appeared) minute suddenly attains magnitude; Verse 9. SIKHARINÍ (a variety of the ATYASHȚI) containing seventeen syllables to the half-line, cach half-line being alike. सूतः । पश्यैनं व्यापाद्यमानं ॥ इति शरसन्धानं नाटयति ॥ नेपथ्ये । भो भो राजन् । श्रश्रममृगो ऽयं न हन्तव्यो न हन्तव्यः । सूतः ॥ आकर्ण्यावलोक्य च ॥ श्रयुग्मन् । अस्य खलु ते वाणपथवर्तिनः कृष्णसारस्यान्तरे तपस्विन उपस्थिताः । राजा ॥ ससम्भ्रमं ॥ तेन हि प्रगृह्यन्तां वाजिनः । ॥ ततः प्रविशत्यात्मनात्तृतीयो वैखानसः ॥ न हन्तव्यः । that which was divided in half becomes as if united; that also which is by nature [really] crooked (appears) even-lined [straight] to my eyes. Nothing (seems) at a distance from me nor at my side even for a moment, by reason of the velocity of the chariot.' This is a method of describing great velocity of motion, which may be well appreciated by any one, in these days, who may have taken notice of the effect produced upon adjacent objects by an express railway speed of a mile a minute. A building which as seen in the distance has several divisions, seems to combine into one solid whole when we are suddenly brought to look at it from another point of view, its separate parts being hidden behind each other. Again, an object which has in reality a crooked or irregular outline when close to one's side, will assume more evenness and regularity of shape when we have left it at a distance. 1 — With himself as the third,' or with himself making the third,' i.e., himself and two others. This is a remarkable compound not unusual in Sanskrit. Compare Pándavá mátri-shashtáh, the Pandavas with their mother as the sixth,' i.e., five persons, or six counting their mother. [Hid. i. 1, Bopp.] Again, chháyá-dwithyo Nalah, 'Nala made two by his shadow,' 'umbra-geminatus' [Nala, Bopp, ch. v., 26.] Also, adhite chaturo vedán ákhyána-panchamán, he reads the four Vedas with the ákhyánas as a fifth' [Nala, vi., 9 ]. A very similar idiom prevails in Greek, airòs being used after ordinal numbers to show that one person in conjunction with some others, whose number is less by one than the number mentioned, has a cg a dy aru: afamıēt saa afu मृदुनि मृगशरीरे पुष्पराशात् द्ववाग्निः । क्व वत हरिणकानां जीवितं चातिलोलं · क्व च निशितनिपाताः वज्रसाराः शरास् ते ॥ १० ॥ done something: thus, TéμTTоs avròs, 'himself with four others.' [Thucydides, I. xlvi.] The тpírov nuтáλavтov 'two talents and a half,' and eßdoμov nμiτáλavrov six talents and a half' of Herodotus [I. 15, 50] afford a further illustration of this idiom. 1 'Not indeed, not indeed must this arrow (of thine) be allowed to descend upon this tender body of the deer, like fire upon a heap of flowers. Where, forsooth, on the one hand [cha], is the very frail existence of fawns? and where, on the other, are thy sharp-falling adamantine shafts?' i.e., Where is the suitability or congruity between the one and the other? What has one got to do with the other? How great a contrast or difference is there between the one and the other! Let not your shafts waste their strength upon an object so frail aud tender, but let them be directed towards a mark more fitted to prove their adamantine qualities. This repetition of kwa to express great contrast or unsuitability between two things is very remarkable. It is used by Kálidása again at the end of the second Act of this play, kwa vayam, etc.; also in the fifth versc of the Megha-dúta, thus,-'Where is a cloud which is a collection of vapour, fire, water, and wind? and where the meaning of messages to be received by intelligent mortals?' i.e., Why deliver a message intended for intelligent human beings to a cloud? What possible connection can there be between objects whose nature is so different?-A very good example of this use of kwa also occurs in the second line of the Raghu-vansa, 'Where is the race sprung from the sun? and where my scanty powers of mind? (In attempting the history of this race) I am foolishly about to cross the trackless ocean in a small boat.' This idiom is imitated in Telugu [sco Morris' Selections, Story 39]: 'Where is the lake Mánasa? and where art thou?' ie., What hast thou to do with the lake Mánasa? What connection Verse 10. MÁLINÍ or MÁNINÍ (a variety of ATI-ŚAKKARÍ or ATI-ŠARKARÍ) containing fifteen syllables to the half-line, each half-line being alike. -1· तत् साधु कृतसन्धानं प्रतिसंहर सायकं । श्रर्त्तत्राणाय वः शस्त्रं न प्रहर्तुम अनागसि ॥ ११ ॥ राजा । एष प्रतिसंहृतः ॥ इति यथोक्तं करोति ॥ can there possibly be between you?-The majority of MSS. read pushpa-rásau: I cannot agree in preferring túla-rásau, for the very reason that cotton is more susceptible of fire than flowers, and there would be less of incongruity in throwing fire upon the former than upon the latter. 'Therefore replace (in the quiver) your well-aimed [lit., well fitted to the bow], arrow. Your weapon is for the deliverance of the distressed, not to inflict a wound on the innocent.' Sandhá is properly to unite or fix an arrow to a bow,' hence to take aim' [Draup. har., 149]; and sandhánam, "the act of taking aim.' Prahartum is here used where praharanaya might be expected, but the infinitive is interchangeable with the dative, and generally has the force of that case. 'This is worthy of your honour, who art the light of the race of Puru,' .., an illustrious descendant of Puru. Compare in the beginning of the Vikramorvasí, sadrisam idam soma-vansa-sambhavasya. In English we have the same idiom, this is just like [i.e., worthy of] one born in the Lunar race.' The two great lines or dynasties of kings according to Hindú mythology were the Solar and the Lunar. The Solar begins with Ikshwáku the son of Vaivaswata, the son of Vivaswat, or the Sun, and is carried on through Kakutstha, Dilípa, Raghu, Aja, and Dasaratha, to his son the great Ráma-chandra, hero of the Rámáyana. Under the Lunar come Puru and Dushyanta, and some of the most celebrated heroes and demi-gods, as-1. Soma; 2. his son, Budha; 3. his son, Purúravas; 4. his son, Ayus; 5. his son, Nahusha; 6. his son, Yayáti; 7. his sons, Puru and Yadu. From Puru were descended Tansu, Anila, Dushyanta and Bharata. From his brother Yadu came Satwata, Sura, Vasudeva, and his sons Balarama and Krishna. From Bharata the son of Dushyanta and descendant of Puru, came after a time Ajamídha, Samvarana, Kuru, Sántanu, Bhishma, and Krishnadwaipayana or Vyása. The latter was the father of Dhrita Verse 11. SLOKA or ANUSHTUBH. (See Verse 5.) |