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LITERARY EVALUATION
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into 118 Cantos. The poet has not devoted seperate cantos for each topic proposed in the list of the contents. Sometimes a topic runs through more than one cantos and sometimes more than one topics have been included in one canto. Thus though the work, not divided into clear-cut Kandas like the VR, systematically follows the plan outlined in the first canto.
D. A Narrative Epic Poem and its style:
The work is a narrative epic poem. In a narrative the emphasis falls on the depiction of incidents which should proceed along in a chain—the ensuing incident naturally emerging from the preceding one. The first incident is just like throwing a stone into a pond and then a series of incidents follows in concentric circles. In this epic poem Kaikeyi's 'svayamvara' is the germinating idea-the initial incident. Dasaratha's fight against his rivals results from it. Then follow the granting of a boon to Kaikeyi, demand of kingdom for Bharata, refusal of throne by Bharata and Rāma's voluntary exile to remove the scruples of Bharata. Thus the incidents are woven into a chain,
In the forest while cutting a thicket of bamboos, Laksmana unknowingly cuts off the head of Sambūka, the son of Candranakhā. This incident results in Candranakhā's asking her husband Kharad. ūşāņa to kill the culprits. Then follow Rāvana's arrival to help Kharadūşana, the former's getting enamoured of Sitā, kidnapping of Sitā, death of Rāvana, rumour against Sitā, her exile, the war-campaign of Lavana and Ankusa against their father and so on. Thus the poet has moulded the whole story uniting and co-relating the incidents in a truly narrative style.
Then there are incidents in the PCV, which strike as being entirely novel to a reader of the Rāma-kāvyas preceding it. These incidents are Bhāmandala's birth and his kidnpping, sham Sugrīva's quarrel with Vánara Sugriva, battle of Lavana and Ankuśa with Rāma, the story of Kañcuki and Rama's madness. At several places there are divergences also from the popular Rāma story and thus we find that the narrative has gained a new pattern at the hands of Vimalasūri.
The narrative runs ahead briskly yet easily. The language is simple, not burdened with complicated compounds and phrases. This simplicity of language and this ease of style make this narrative a successful one. The descriptions are always short so the easy flow of the narrative is never clogged, the curiosity of the reader is ever kept alive. All these are the essential features of a successful narrative.
