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V. M. kuikarni cup which goes on subsiding when sipped, after being seized between the two lips by the drinker.
6 Principal theme and governing sentiment :
Prakrit verses quoted in works on Alamkāraśāstra are mostly of erotic contents, love in its various phases and stages being the dominant sentiment: No doubt there are some verses cited which contain maxims, popular sayings, Subhasitas and some others deal with nature, seasons, etc; and still some others with heroism. But as a rule Prakrit poems and anthologies from which these verses are drawn mainly deal with love. Young women, the blossoming of love, the message from mistresses to absent lovers, the efforts of a dūti (go-between) to bring about the union of lovers, love in enjoyment-kisses, embraces, nailmarks, tooth-bites, intercourse are described. The manini (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 zest-gusto in these works. The Prakrit poets are proud of the fact that their poetry mainly deals with love, and mainly interested in evoking the beautiful sentiment of frigara.
This preference for the theme of love and the erotic sentiment should be easy to understand on psyschological grounds : Love is the most dominant of all feelings, and is easily within the experience of one and all(63) Anandavardhana was fully conversant with human psychology so well expressed by Bhāmaha :
“They say princes to be instructed or pupils in general) study Śāstras if they are touched up with sweet pleasurable rasa. Children who first lick honey easily take bitter dose of medicine. Keeping in mind this aspect of human psychology Anandavardhana most probably chose to cite erotic Prakrit gathas to illustrate the theory of dhvani and its varieties which he, for the first in the history of alamkaraśastra, formulated and propounded in his Dhvanyaloka. His lead is enthusiastically followed by later alamkärikas, Bhoja topping them all by citing in his two alamkära works about two thounsand Prakrit verses.
(7) Prakrit Poetry highly erotic but not obscene :
In some quarters it is alleged that the alamkarikas cite Prakrit verses which are full of obscenity and vulgarity and which glorify illicit or clandestine love as illustrations because the obscenity remains hidden under the garb of the Prakrit language. This allegation, on the face of it, is false. For the very purpose of citing illustration is defeated if the verses be unintelligible. The fact is in the classical period there was no compartmentalisation or bifurcation of studies into Sanskrit and Prakrit. The
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