A History of Sanskrit Literature c21.s8.11

c21.s8.11

There is also no lack of movement, and Bāṇa is perfectly well aware of the advantage of contrast, as when he brings vividly before us the innocent life of the parrots under their Çalmali tree or the peaceful quiet of Jābāli's hermitage, on the one hand, and the pomp and display of the courts of Çūdraka and Tārāpīḍa on the other. His sense of drama is revealed by the introduction with its brilliant portraits of Çūdraka and the Caṇḍāla maiden, while his love for nature and his close observation reveal themselves in his descriptions of the Himālaya, of lake Acchoda, of Mahāçvetā's abode, and in minor touches throughout. As in the *Harṣacarita* he blends description of nature's own beauties with those of the cities and works of men's hands, so we can set his pictures of palaces and towns against those of hermitage and country. The political insight which reveals itself in the discourses of the *Harṣacarita* is again exhibited in Çukanāsa's admonitions to the young prince, and the advice of Kapiñjala to Puṇḍarīka. We seem, however, to find a more mature view and a deeper insight into the springs of human action in the *Kādambarī* than in the *Harṣacarita*, supporting the conclusion as to the later date of the *Kādambarī*.