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218
Satya Vrat
However, Bāņa has saught to make the present description a replica of her youthful beauties. It is the well-proportioned delicacy and smoothness of Sarasvati's legs that he seems to highlight in the epithet. These phy. sical virtues would surely be heightened by a comparison of her legs with the pillars of the gate to the Cupid's domain. That well-proportioned legs and thighs serve to inflame passion, is a trite fact. And, as apprehended by Kane, no inelegance is involved in Haaracuo, particularly when it is remembered that the goddess of learning falls victim to Dadhica, soon afterwards. The effect of the epithet is indoubtedly enhanced if Sarasvati's legs are taken to excite love. The variant naar to, thus seems to be more suited to the situation.
The eastern quarter with tender rays of the moon peeping out the refrom, has been compared, in the description of moon-rise, in the same chapter, with a sandy islet of the river Yamunā. The first rays of the moon had pierced through the incipient darkness which resulted in a sort of intermingling of darkness with the moon-shine. The phenomenon has been imaginatively compared to a saudy spot that had just sprung on the bank of the river but retained a modicum of blackish water, a characte. ristic of Yamunā. The phrase 391571aatentarife-elecalc#gfarzaa. found in Cestani Mss. to express the situation, is tarnished by tautology, censured by poeticians as a blemish. With pulina itsolf denoting "a sandy spot' 913#1 before gisargata is obviously redundaat. What is intended to be conveyed by a jumble of vocables can be effectively denoted by
fearaia itself. A poet of Bāņa's eminence can hardly be expected to relish such oddities. It would therefore be better to discard it in favour of बालपुलिनायमाने, adopted in the Bombay edition (P. 15) बालपुलिन means 'a sandy spot just raised out of water'. Such an islet, with its white sand and remnanents of dark water, would serve as a fitting conciet to be exploited for driving home the natural phenomenon, at the evening twilight.
While cheering up Sarasvati in h:r predicament following Durväsä's curse, Savitri, her friend, advises her, among other things, to resign her. self to Lord Siva who was sure to relieve the misery of her sojourn on the earth. One of the many attributes applied to the lord is giari 5 a:
Naz (2. 17). 59:512827 is a quaint compound, unworthy of a master of prose. Not only is it an unusual combination, at infringes upon simple rules of grammar as well. It may be strained to mean 'future is constant happiness'. Fron Bāņa's style it would be legitimate to infer that
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