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at least, did not strike them as so.2
3. kira in comparisons
In the texts published in the anthology Gurjararāsāvalī I have found three instances of kiri in comparisons. The first instance to be discussed is from the Viraṭaparva, lines 337-8:
etalai śuśarmā dali dhola vājaim
jāņe asāḍhū kiri meha gājai
In the meantime in Suśarma's army the drums were beaten: it sounded like the thundering clouds in the month of Āṣādha.
Here kiri is found side by side with jāṇe "as if, as it were". However in Vidyavilāsapavāḍu, lines 67-70, it is found on its own instead of jāne (beside jāņe, note also jisya and jima):
adhara suram ga jisyā paravālī sarala sukomala baha piņa payohara atihim manohara jāņe amiyapavāha ūrayugala kiri kadalīthambhā caraṇakamala sukumāla mayagala jima mālhaṁtī cālai bolai vayaṇa rasāla,
Her lips are red (lit. of a good colour) like (jisya) coral, her arms straight and tender, her thick round breasts lovely like
(jāṇe) a stream of nectar, her pair of thighs [like] (kiri) the 2. Emeneau (1969: 251) refers to Chandogya Upaniş ad 4.14.2: kim nu somya kila te 'vocann iti. This passage turns up again with Ickler (1976: 86), who queries the possibility of a substitution of original khalu by kila. Van Daalen (1988: 125-6 and 136, note 66) refers besides to katham adyāpi viprakṛṣṭatamaḥ kila prabodhakālaḥ in Bhavabhūti's Mahāvīrcarita (6,7+) and an instance of kim nāma kir 'tam from Jātaka 2.63.21. Other instances of kira in combination with an interrogative are found in, for instance, Sattasai 773 (kamalāyarāṇa unho hemamto sīalo jaṇavayassa/ ko kirą bhiņṇasahāvaṁ jāṇai paramatthayaṁ loe), Setubandha 3,56 (samuhamiliekkamekke ko ira āsaṇṇasaṁsaammi sahão ...), 4,62 (kaha ira sakajjakusalā ...), and Saṁdeśarāsaka 154 (hiyau na kiņa kiri phuṭṭau nam vajjihi ghaḍiu).
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