A History of Sanskrit Literature c9.s2.16

c9.s2.16

‘Ah that the enamoured twilight should lay aside her garment of sky, now that the stars are quickened to life by the touch of the rays of the dancing moon.’ The *Rāmāyaṇa* is not given to erotic descriptions; its tone is serious and grave, but such passages¹ as the description of the vision by Hanumant of the sleeping wives of Rāvaṇa mark the beginning of a tradition which Açvaghoṣa handed on to his successors. Imitation in detail of the *Rāmāyaṇa* is frequent and patent, and its language and verse technique deeply affected the whole of the history of the Kāvya.