A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.s5.13

c19.s5.13

Somadeva's taste is shown by the fact that, though he likes to conclude a tale with a different metre, only 761 of his 21,388 verses are in more elaborate metres, and he resists the temptation to indulge himself in word-plays, contenting himself with the swift easy flow of the simple narrative. He permits himself in his metre a certain lightness of touch exhibited in minor negligences, which in no way make it inaccurate, but save it from the pedantry of following in absolute strictness the rules regarding caesuras and Sandhi rigorously adopted by the great Kāvya writers. His abnegation is the more remarkable because he obviously could have won repute as a poet in the elaborate style. As it is, we owe him many happy passages in which simplicity is not inconsistent with ornament. Thus we have the description, brief but effective, of a storm at sea: