A History of Sanskrit Literature c21.s7.1

c21.s7.1

Bāṇa opens the *Harṣacarita*² by a brief summary in verse of the models in poetry whom he admired, the author of the *Bhārata*, the writer of *Vāsavadattā*, the prose of Haricandra—to us merely a name, Sātavāhana's treasure of song, the poem of Pravarasena, doubtless the *Setubandha* in Prākrit, Bhāsa's plays, Kālidāsa's flowers of speech, honey-sweet, and the *Bṛhatkathā*. He records the love of the north for plays on words, of the west for sense, of the south for poetical fancy, Utprekṣā, and of Gauḍa for pomp of syllables, and admits that it is hard to combine, what he evidently holds as ideal, a fresh subject-matter, a diction not common, double meanings obtained without forcing, a dominant sentiment clearly expressed, richness in sonorous words. Then he pronounces his purpose in a stanza often misunderstood:³