________________
960
:
Sramaņa/April-June/1999
him in testing the growth of teeth thus justifying herself worthy of union.40 Her dextrous style and tricky way of divulging deviously her vehement desire is appreciable.
Vasanta captivates even the unsentimented minds of travelters let alone the sentimented travellers. Hāla says, the travellers though they are not interested in songs like very much the lovesongs on separation sung captivatively in the forests by the cowherds, because the forest was beautified by the fabulous paraphernalia of the spring. The red sprout of the mango is like the sharp dart in the hand of Cupid, tinged with a lot of blood and as such the deplorable travellers have a very sad look at these annoying sprouts.41 However, their anguish used to reach sharply the crisis at the advent of Vasanta.
Thus, we can see how these Prakrit poets lavish care on the presentation of Vasantas's different aspects. Unlike some Sanskrit poets who describe Vasanta as if in a traditional way, these Prakrit poets like good research scholars try to trace new points on Vasanta. In this regard Hāla's contribution is unique. Hāla, though he compiles these stanzas of some others, with the addition of his own gāhās made the Sattasai a landmark in Prakrit literature.
Most of the poets whose works are quoted here have made the best use of Mahārāștri Prakrit dialect. The soft words of this dialect are the most suitable to deal with the spring which is supposed to be the most delightful season in the year. Some prose passages quoted here are also in Sauraseni. The Prakrit poets reserve as if some choice words to bring much force to the meaning especially when dealing with the Viraha aspect of Vasanta.
The first aspect i.e., the Nature finds abundant scope in Sanskrit literature whereas the other two viz., festival and love (or viraha) are acquisitive of more scope in Prakrit literature. The reason for this is that Prakrit poets are more interested in depicting
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org