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(śramana
Vasanta In Prakrit Literature
Dr. Veneemadhavashastri Joshi
Seasons, as they relate the diverse moods of the year to those of man and women in general and of lovers in particular, are part and parcel of our life. The spring (Vasanta stu) brings exhilarating hew life and exceeding joy to both man and Nature and as such it is considered to be the threshold of gay new-year. For lovers it is a bountious harvest of amorous sentiment. If lovers are mutually delightened it is Vasanta (the spring) for them though the running season is summer. Thus it is used well neigh, in Prakrit literature as a synonym of 'delight'. It is an evergreen stimulant of fresh thoughts to poets. Mostly it is caught in the spotlight of poets' description.
In fact it cannot be gain-said that Sanskrit and Prakrit are two faces of the same coin. Naturally, Sanskrit poets were masters of Prakrit too. However, we can find these Prakrit poets never tired of delineating deliciously the divine beauty of the spring in their works. They are left to their own devices in framing the fancies on the Spring. Sometimes, they create and devise some situations in their works so that they can describe luxuriously the Spring and otherwise they feel the delinquency. In depicting the Spring they are found with their facile pen and as such both reader and writer luxuriate in the same.
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