Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 60

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[MARCH, 1031
NATURE STUDY IN THE SANSKRIT DRAMA SAKUNTALA.
BY LILY DEXTER GREENE, PE.D. Now let us consider one of the dramas of Kalidasa, called Sakuntalu. Here we will find the same wonderful descriptions of nature as in the poem previously studied (Meghaddta),1 and also a deep appreciation of the beauty of the world and of the use that a poetic mind can make of such splendid soenery as India affords. His nature descriptions are almost always in delightful verse.
This drama has been greatly appreciated by the western world ever since its appearance in English in 1789 from the pen of Sir William Jones. No less a poet than Goethe gives it the following praise :
"Wouldst thou the blossoms of spring ?
Wouldst thou what satisfies and feeds ? Wouldst thou the heaven, the earth, in one sole word compress?
I name Shakuntala, and so have said it all." In the opening aot of Sakuntala, we have a fine bit of word-painting, when the chariotect speaks of the fleeing deer as Siva with his pináka, or bow. By this description he recalls the story of the slight of Siva at the time of Dakşa's great horse sacrifioe. Siva, being uninvited, is enraged and with his wife appears on the scene, just in time to destroy the sacrifice and to wound and disperse the gods. Yajna, the lord of the sacrifice,' hastily assumes the shape of a deer and flees, but is finally overtaken and beheaded. Another suggestion is that the charioteer here refers to the story in the Vayu Purána, which says that Siva, as a monster called Virabhadra, pursued Yajna in the form of a fleet deer. Whatever the fact referred to may have been, the description of the fleeing deer shows a wonderful appreciation of the niceties of detail. He notes the graceful curve of the neok, the shrinking body to escape the expected arrow, the frightened attitude as the half-chewed food drops from his panting, partially opened mouth, and the long, graceful leaps as he soon disappears from sight. His picture of the excited horses
“Their necks with eager vying stretched
Their crested plumelets flowing stiff,
Their ears erect and motionless." also shows wonderfully accuracy of observation and rare ability in portraying all the details of any scene.
King Duşyanta is praised by the hermit for proteoting the hermitage, and the soar on his arm made by the bowstrings snapping back, is a sign to these hermits that he belongs to the warrior oaste. In this connection the marvd plant, which Sir G. Watt would identify with the Sansevieria zeylanica, may be called the bowstring hemp, since the fibres were extensively used for that purpose by the ancient Hindūs. Manu, II, 42, says that the girdle of the military olass must be made of múrvá fibres. The plant grows wild under the shade of bushes in the forest. When cultivated in a rich, sandy soil, and watered regularly, the plants are much larger, and the leaves, when full-grown, are three to four feet long. The fine, white fibres run through the entire length of the leaf. They are prepared by steeping the leaves in water until the pulpy part decays, then rubbing off this pulp, leaving the fibres olean and bare. However, the objection to this process, is that it discolours the fibres and hence depreciates their value. The ordinary way is to scrape away the pulp with a hard piece of wood, while the leaf is held on a thin board. Thus prepared, these fibres are very valuable for fishing lines, fiddle strings, bowstring, and many other purposes. It is interesting to know that the plant readily starts from slips, which issue in great numbers from the roots, and since these roots are perennial, the plant requires little care. One of the peculiarities of this plant is that it has fibrous, jointed roots, and another is that its flowers are night-bloomers only. Every evening, fresh blossoms appear and all fall off before the
I Supra, vel. LIX, p. 131 f.