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PRAKRIT
and touching manner.
Passionate longings, pangs of separation, devotion of attachment, sly humour, cupid's mischiefs and the like, are often described with a frankness rare in conventional poetry. Some of the scenes are full of pathos or flavour. A lovely maiden pours water for a thirsty traveller who lets it trinpckle through his fingures; in her turn she lessens the stream of water from the pitcher; thus both extend the period of feasting their eyes on the other. There is very little of religious setting, though Iśvara and Parvati, Visņu, Laksmi, are casually mentioned. The name of Hāla stands for Satavahana, one of the Andhrabhrtya kings whose partiality for Prakrits is well knon. In all probability the compilation is of the 2nd or 3rd C. A. D. It has been intimated in Sanskrit and Hindi; but the original stands unrivalled.
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Another Prakrit anothology, close in spirit to Hala's work, but planned topically, is the Vajjalaggain of Jayavallabha, of uncertain date. There are different recensions; the number of gathas wavers about 700. Perhaps the major portion is composed by Jayavallabha, who of course included verses from Hala & others. The verses are grouped according to subjects, which embrace three human ends; righteousness (dharma); wealth (artha), and love (kāma) almost half of them being devoted to the last. The range of topics is quite wide; poetry, friendship, fate, poverty, service, hunter, elephant, Swan, bee. The good man is likened to a mirror and the wicked man, liked seda, only adds a polish to his virtues. The author reports the camel for yearning for the desert when it can not be had. The erotic sentiment has often a touch of righteousness and heroism about it. The author is a Jaina, but here is nothing of sectarianism in his collection. His gāthās in Maharastri contain many Apabharamsa elements; and the spirit of some of the stanzas is similar to that in Hemchandra's quotations in his Prakrit grammer. The Sanskrit writers on poetic and rhetoric quote many Prakrit verses; of some, the sources are not traced; they presuppose a good many compositions or compilations like the above.
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