________________
MAY, 1913.)
INDIAN INSCRIPTIONS AND THE KAVYA
139
23 ; 10. Vasantatilakd 8, 5, 6, 11, 14, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, 30-32, 40; 11. Sardalavikridita 1-2 ; 12. Harini 16. Of these Vasantatilokd is the most frequently used, i, e, in as many as four teen verses. The frequent change of metre finds, without doubt, its explanation in nothing but the writer's desire to show his skill in the art, as otherwise the prasasti itself never demands it. There are many compositions of this class, in which only a single metre is used, or one priocipal metre and a second only in the concluding verses or verse. The best mahdkdryas present exactly similar phenomena. Sometimes we find that the wbole of a kávya comparatively short in extent, or a section of a long karya presents only one metre; sometimes there is one general metre with a different metre used at the close only; in other cases, again we see a large number of different metres used. One thing that is striking in Vatsabhatti's versification is the frequent use of the weak Panbe which occurs in ten Vasantatilakd verses, in two Upendravajrds and in one Aryd (verse 33). In the last case, it stands at the end of a halfverse, where it is never found used by good poets, as far as I know. Vatsabhatti has thus made himself guilty of an awkwardness. Other cases wherein he commits offences against the rules of grammar or of rhetorios will be mentioned later on. As regards the form of the composition, it is to be further mentioned that often two or more verses form & yugalaka, a vises haka or a kulaka. Yugalakas or yugmas are instanced in verses 21-22, niseshakas, in verses 23-25, 26-28, 4-6, kulakas in verses 6-14, 31-85, 36-41. This peculiarity also is very frequently met with in all mahakavyas.
Vatsabhatti's diction shows many marks which characterise, according to Dandin, the poets of the eastern school. First of all he makes ise of long compounds, which cover a pdda or more than a páda or even the whole of a half-verse. Instances of the last type occur in verres 4, 6, 8, 14, 32, 41, while those of the first and second type are much more frequent. The whole of the verse 33 consists of one single compound. If one compares Daudin's illustration of the style of the Gaudas, (Kavyadarka I. 82.) with our verses 32-88, the resem. blance would be unmistakable. Secondly, the writer, in his attempt to bring the sound of the words into harmony with the sense, shows in one and the same verse a mixture of soft and hard sounding syllablos, as is allowed only by poets of eastern India. Verse 26 rang thos:
तस्यात्मजो स्थैर्यनयोपपन्नो बन्धुप्रियो बन्धुरिव प्रजानाम् ।
पन्ध्यत्तिहर्ता नृपबन्धुवर्मा विदृप्तपक्षक्षपर्णकदक्षः ॥ His son is king Bandhuvarman, endowed with firmness and statesmanship, dear to the brothers, a brother, as it were, to his people, removing the sofferings of the relations, the only man skilful in destroying the proud hosts of enemies.'
Here, there is a change of rasa or the poetic sentiment. The first three pddas describe Bandhavarman's wisdom and goodness, the last his terribleness in war with enemies. Corresponding to this, the words in the first three quarters of the verse consist of syllables which are soft or light to be pronounced, in consideration of the necessity of the alliteration of the name Bandhavarman. The fourth pada, on the other hand, where the raudra rasa prevails, contains only hard sounding syllables and agrees quite well with Dandin's typical illustration, kdvyddaria I, 72:
w
afari Hilal. While explaining Samatd or evenness of form required for the Vaidarbhi riti, Daņdin mentions (Kavy. I. 47-49a) the different types of letters which a verge can have and illustrates the same with examples. As the last example, he gives a half verse (49b) in which every pada bas a different combination of letters corresponding to the change of sentiment, and Daņdin farther adds in verse 50, that this sort of change or unevenno88 788 in vogue only amongst the Easterns.
