A History of Sanskrit Literature c10.s2.18

c10.s2.18

Sanskrit poetry, which does not aim at rhyme, nevertheless is fond of the repetition of the same syllables in close relation, especially if the meaning thus conveyed is altered, and instances of Yamakas, as they are styled, are not rare in Açvaghoṣa as in *praṇaṣṭavatsām iva vatsalāṁ gām*, 'like a loving cow which hath lost its calf', a clear refinement on the *vivatsā vatsalā kṛtā* of the epic; a more elaborate effect is produced in Canto i where stanzas 14–16 approximate to rhyme as in *udārasaṁkhyaiḥ sacivair asaṁkhyaiḥ*, 'with countless ministers of noble counsels' and *samagradevīnivahāgradevī*, 'queen supreme of all the host of queens', but such effects are rarely² sought. Occasionally a phrase is overworked as in *tapaḥpraçāntaṁ sa vanaṁ viveça*, 'he entered the penance grove where penance had ceased', and now and then the poet errs in his display of his culture,³ as when he derives a simile from the use of the verbal form *asti* as a particle, though his successors equally delight to prove by recondite allusions that they are masters of the works of Pāṇini. His own skill is shown especially in Canto ii of the *Saundarananda* where he exhibits his knowledge of aorist forms, and he evidently felt pleasure in the skill which uses *mīyate* as the passive of the three verbs *mā*, *mi*, and *mī*, *ajījipat* as the aorist of *jap* and *ji*, and *adīdipat* as that of *dā* and *do*. On the other hand we find forms which, if excusable, are so only on the ground of the epic, as in the gerunds *gṛhya* and *vivardhayitvā*; beside the common *niçamya*, hearing, we find *niçāmya*, observing, and, while the derivative form *daiçika* is regularly used *sudeçika* stands beside it. The periphrastic future as *ahaṁ praveṣṭā* replaces *praveṣṭāsmi*, and in the use of particles Açvaghoṣa permits himself irregularities which are not rare in Buddhist Sanskrit; thus *kim bata* and *prāg eva* denote ‘how much more’; *saced* is used for *ced*; and, as in the epic, some pleonasm of particles is allowed; we find, unless we amend, *api* repeated, *hi* and *tu* combined in one sentence and even *na jaharṣa na cāpi cānutepe*. Some Buddhist terms occur, such as *prativedha*, *iñjita*, *praçrabdhi*, and *praverita*, while *maitrā*, for the wonted *maitrī*, is based on Pāli *mettā*; moreover it is impossible to defend some of Açvaghoṣa’s genders. But these are minor blemishes in a Sanskrit which is normally grammatically correct.