A History of Sanskrit Literature c9.s2.14

c9.s2.14

‘When he had made thee, I ween, the All-maker stayed from his making of lovely forms, for there is no beauty on earth to match thine, o fair-faced one.’ As later, we find as prognostications of good the wind that blows free from dust, the clear skies, the flowers that are rained down to earth, and the resonance of the drums of the gods. Indra’s banner, erected and then taken down at the festival in his honour, affords material for similes; eyes expand with joy (*harṣotphullanayana*); men drink in faces with their eyes (*locanābhyām pibann iva*); breasts are like golden bowls (*kucau suvarṇakalaçopamau*); before men’s wondering eyes the host stands as if in a picture; the Ganges shows her white teeth as she smiles in the foam of her waves (*phenanirmalahāsinī*); winds blow with fragrant coolness; the clouds rumble with deep and pleasant sound (*snigdhagambhīraghoṣa*); the action of the fool is like that of the moth that flies into the flame; man leaves his worn frame as the snake its old skin. The love of alliteration is already present, as in *dakṣiṇā dakṣiṇaṁ tīram*; we find even an example of the figure, concise expression (*samāsokti*), in which the dawn is treated on the analogy of a loving maiden: