A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c6.203

c6.203

We may admire the delicate poetry of Kâlidâsa, the philosophical vigour of Kapila, the voluptuous mysticism of Jayadeva, and the epic simplicity of Vyâsa and Vâlmîki, but as long as their works float before our eyes like the mirage of a desert, as long as we are unable to tell what real life, what period in the history of a nation they reflect, there is something wanting to engage our sympathies in the same manner as they are engaged by the tragedies of Æschylus, or the philosophical essays of Cicero. We value the most imperfect statues of Lycia and Ægina, because they throw light on the history of Greek art, but we should pass by unnoticed the most perfect mouldings of the human frame, if we could not tell whether they had been prepared in the studio of a Phidias, or in the dissecting-room of a London hospital.