A History of Sanskrit Literature c11.s9.39

c11.s9.39

Of figures of sense Kālidāsa excels in Indian opinion in the simile, and the praise is just. The Indian love of simile appears freely in the *Ṛgveda*, and is attested by the elaborate subdivisions of Indian poetics. The width of Kālidāsa’s knowledge and the depth of his observation of nature and life are here shown to the highest advantage. But his world is not ours, and doubtless at times his figures¹ seem grotesque to our taste, as when the king comes from his bath and plays with his harem like an elephant on whose shoulder still clings a shoot of the lotus sporting with the females of his herd. But often there can be only admiration; the chariot of the prince is so covered by the arrows of his foes that only by the point of its standard can it be discerned, as the morning wrapped in mist by the feeble rays of the sun; the wound torn by the arrow is the door of death; with joyful eyes the women of the city follow the prince as the nights with the clear stars of autumn the polar star. Characteristic is the love of elaboration of a comparison; the reader is not to be contented with a mere hint, the comparison must be drawn out in full. The Pāṇḍya king is peer of the lord of mountains, for the necklaces which hang over his shoulders are its foaming cascades, and the sandal that reddens his limbs the young sun which colours its peaks. Or again, the princes who hide their jealousy under the semblance of joy are compared to the pool in whose calm depths lurk deadly crocodiles. Or again, the ruined city, with towers broken, terraces laid down and houses destroyed, is like the evening when the sun sets behind the mountains and a mighty wind scatters the clouds.