Prakrit Verses in Sanskrit Works on Poetics Part 02

SR No.: 006960
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: V M Kulkarni
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology
Publication Year: 1990
Total Pages: 768
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 60

Prakrit Verses in Sanskrit Works on Poetics
[They pretended anger to please their sakhi) (girl friends) who had advised them to practise mâna, and silently reproved them for being cordial to the lovers without waiting to be appeased by them for past offences ]
"They spoke in one way before their maiden friends, and in another way while instructing the messenger girls, and something quite different, excitedly, at the sight of the beloved."93
(iv) From Gaüdavaho :
Here is a verse from Vākpati describing manini : The lady was angry; but when her man held her lower lip between his own lips, the flush of anger began wearing away, like red wine in a crytstal cup which goes on subsiding when sipped, after being seized between the two lips by the drinker (v. no. 690).
13. Principal theme and governing sentiment :
Prakrit verses quoted in works on Alamkāraśāstra are mostly erotic, love in its various phases and stages being the dominant sentiment. No doubt there are some verses cited which contain maxims, popular sayings, subhāṣitas and some others which deal with nature, seasons, etc; and some others expressing heroism. But as a rule Prakrit poems and anthologies from which these verses are drawn deal mainly with love : Young women, the blossoming of love, the messages from young women to their absent lovers, the efforts of a dūti (go-between) to bring about the union of lovers, their actual meeting, - their kisses, embraces, nailmarks, tooth-bites, and actual intercourse are described - the mānini (woman offended), love in separation, the asati (an unmarried woman who is not chaste, or an adulteress, a wanton woman) a puspini, etc., are portrayed with charm in these works. The Prakrit poets are proud of the fact that their poetry mainly deals with love, and that they are mainly interested in evoking the beautiful sentiment of śrrigara.
Impersonality is a striking feature of this love poetry in Prakrit. In his Introduction to An Anthology of Sanskrit Court Poetry Daniel H.H. Ingalls makes the following observation : "In the five hundred or so verses that deal with love in Vidyākara's
93) अन्यदिति 'किं तेन शठेन' इत्यादि सखीजनपुरत: । दूतीजनं संदिशन् चान्यथेति 'यथाशक्ति दयितमानय इति विमुक्तधैर्यं युवतिजनो जल्पति । अन्यदेव दयितदर्शने। सबहुमानमिति भावः ।
- Kulanātha on Setu X. 75