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A History of Indian Literature v3: Volume 3

A History of Indian Literature v3

Language
English

Contents

Volume 3

Front matter

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तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

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SANTINIKETAN VISWA BHARATI LIBRARY

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810.9 W 735 V. 3. pt 1

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History of Indian Literature, Vol. III

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BY

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M. WINTERNITZ

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VOL III, PART I ( CLASSICAL SANSKRIT LITERATURE ) TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN WITH ADDITIONS

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BY

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SUBHADRA JHĀ

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MOTILAL BANARSIDASS DELHI :: PATNA :: VARANASI

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*Publishers :* SUNDARLAL JAIN MOTILAL BANARSIDASS Bungalow Road, Jawaharnagar Delhi-6

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*Printers:* SHANTILAL JAIN SHRI JAINENDRA PRESS Bungalow Road, Jawaharnagar, Delhi-6.

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*Books available at:—*

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MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, BUNGALOW ROAD, JAWAHARNAGAR, DELHI MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, NEPALI KHAPRA, VARANASI MOṬILAL BAṆARSIDAṢS, BANKIPORE, PATNA

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| | | PAGE |
| TRANSLATOR'S NOTE | | i |
| FOREWORD | | ii—v |
| LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS | | vi—x |
| **Section IV ORNATE POETRY** | | **1—415** |
| Characteristics of Ornate Poetry | ... | 1— 5 |
| Poetics, Dramatury and Prosody | ... | 5— 35 |
| Beginnings of Ornate Poetry | ... | 35— 41 |
| Golden Age of Ornate Court Poetry | ... | 41— 53 |
| Most Important Poets of the Later Centuries | | 53— 57 |
| Ornate Court Epics | ... | 57— 88 |
| Historical Literature | ... | 88—106 |
| Lyric Poetry | ... | 106—148 |
| Gnomic and Didactic Poetry | ... | 148—173 |
| Anthologies | ... | 173—178 |
| **Dramatic Poetry** | ... | **178—301** |
| Early History of Drama | ... | 178—197 |
| Buddhist Dramas | ... | 197—200 |
| Dramas of Bhāsa, Śūdraka and Viśākhadatta | | 201—237 |
| Classical Dramas of Kālidāsa | ... | 237—250 |
| " " Harṣadeva | ... | 251—258 |
| " " Bhavabhūti | ... | 258—266 |
| " " and Bhaṭṭanārāyaṇa | ... | 266—267 |
| Later Dramatic Literature | ... | 267—292 |
| Bhāṇas and Prahasanas | ... | 292—301 |
| **Narrative Literature** | ... | **301—413** |
| Pañcatantra in its Oldest Form | ... | 307—321 |
| Later Redactions of Pañcatantra | ... | 321—329 |
| Pañcatantra in World-Literature | ... | 329—346 |
| Guṇāḍhya's Bṛhatkathā and Works derived from it | ... | 346—388 |
| Ornate Fictions | ... | 388—410 |
| Indian and Greek Novels | ... | 410—413 |
| **Campūs** | ... | **413—415** |
| **Index of Names** | ... | **417—452** |

Translator's Note

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The first two volumes of the famous *Geschichte der indischen Litteratur* of the Late Dr. M. Winternitz were translated into English during the life-time of the author, and these two volumes, both in German and English, had been well received by orientalists throughout the world.

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Even after a lapse of decades, when nothing of vol. III appeared in English from the ten of brilliant scholars, I took upon myself the task of studying in German itself the said volume, and undertook to translate it into English for my own use. But Shri Sundarlal, the enterprising proprietor of the firm Messrs Motilal Banarsidass, insisted that this translation should be got printed and published. I could not help but accede to his demand. I have for some years been collecting materials for writing an exhaustive and up-to-date history of Sanskrit Literature and here I have utilized some of the materials so collected by putting them within parentheses. I have provided original Sanskrit text in most of the cases to facilitate better appreciation.

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I am grateful to several recent writers on this subject whose essays and books I have unsparingly used and have acknowledged in the body of the work.

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Since the book is a work of reference, my friend Shri D. Satyanārāyaṇa has taken great pains in preparing an index that is more detailed than that in the original German to help the readers in its easy utilization.

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I am fully aware of my poor knowledge of German and no claim is made that the present volume is so good as the two preceding ones, that were translated by an eminent German scholar Mrs. S. Ketkar. So my effort, in the terms of Kālidāsa, is like that of a dwarf raising up his arms in the fond hope of getting something that is beyond his reach and I, therefore, crave indulgence of the readers.

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SUBHADRA JHĀ

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Foreword

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When 23 years ago I undertook to write a "history of the Indian literature" and had begun to work on its preliminaries, I hoped to be able to complete the work in one volume in about three to four years. But the more I dived deep into the subject, the mass of available materials heaped up the more and this increased the difficulties of shifting them. And thus the work, that was planned to cover a single volume, has now become one of three volumes, and parts of this book appeared at considerable intervals : 1904, 1908, 1913, 1920 and here is the last volume at the end. Now after the work is concluded, nobody can be aware of its shortcomings and imperfections more than its author himself. But in case I had wished to let it go into the world, these faults were mended, I would have to wait still for not less than 20 years. In particular I feel and have always felt the obvious deficiency that I have prepared a history of the Indian literature in a very limited measure. But the hard fact remains that we do not possess any trustworthy information about the oldest and most important works of Indian literature, and whatever we can say with regard to the antiquity and origin of the earliest religious and secular poetry as well as about the beginning of the scientific literature is nothing but hypothetical, and naturally many readers will be disappointed to find in *my history of literature* so few definite statements on chronological topics. In fact, I have been accused by a critic of having used expressions like "probably", "perhaps", "apparently", etc. at too many places. In case everything in the history of Indian literature had been fully clear it would have been easy to create an impression with discussions supported by more or less definite figures with regard to dates. But I believe that even a layman derives more benefit when he comes to know about the meagreness of chronological data in Indian literature than when one leads him into the hamlet of Potemkin. And for the beginners, who may choose to undertake research in Indology—they will need consulting this book the most, since it is of great importance [at this stage of study] to be able to distinguish accurately between definite and indefinite statements in order to arrive at the points at which further researches have to be carried. For this very reason, I have stated in the footnotes the views that I do not participate in.

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Since in respect of the history of literature I was obliged to keep myself within the limits of possibility, I have most vigorously exerted my efforts to provide the reader with most unambiguous representations of every type of literature and literary works and to introduce him assuredly of an insight into the spiritual creations of India. In order to check the work from becoming still more voluminous I had to keep myself within the limits of literature, though at times it is equally difficult to separate the history of religious literature from religion and to associate the history of culture with the history of literature. Likewise the history of scientific literature, treated in the last section, can hardly become a history of the sciences.

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It is natural that during the period of several years that have gone by after the publication of the first part of this work our knowledge has advanced further. So I have tried to make the work up-to-date with the addenda and corrigenda given at the end of this book.∗ Since a greater part of the third volume was already printed by the end of 1920 it has become necessary to add even to this part the addenda and corrigenda, especially when for the first time quite a large number of works, so particularly the last volumes of the "Harvard Oriental Series", and the "Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics" and the "Indian Antiquary" for the years 1914-1922 became available to me at the last moment of completion of my work.

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∗ The portion of the addenda and corrigenda relevant to volume III has been, in appropriate places, included in the main work itself and the foot notes.

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One of my most pleasant duty is to thank all those with whose assistance it has been possible for the work to reach the stage of at least some form of completion. His Highness the Raja of Travancore and Pandit T. Gaṇapati Śāstrī Trivendrum, the fortunate discoverer and the talented editor of the dramas of Bhāsa, to whom we owe the first edition of a series of hitherto unknown and new editions of important known texts, have laid me under special obligations by presenting all the volumes of the Trivendrum Sanskrit Series that appeared till 1919. Professor Charles Rockwell Lanmann, the highly gifted editor of the splendid “Harvard Oriental Series” had the favour of sending me its volumes that have appeared during the period of the war, deserves my most cordial thanks. To Professors Johannes Hertel, Eugen Hultzsch, Hermann Jacobi, Julius Jolly and Theodor Zachariae I am grateful for several suggestions, supplements and improvements. Mr. Privatdozent, Dr. Otto Stein, has helped me in the work of proof-correction and in preparation of the index for the present volume, and I thank him for this.

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Lastly, I thank also Mr. Johannes Ziegler, the Publisher and Bookseller (Messrs C. F. Amelangs Verlag), who in spite of the times being so hard for book trade, has taken scientific rather than business-like interest and has consented to extend the work into three volumes.

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In the foreword to the second-half of the second volume I have mentioned the names of the researchers who have passed away in recent years : H. Kern († 1917), E. Windisch († 1918), P. Deussen († 1919), H. Oldenberg († 1920) and L. Von Schroeder († 1920), whose works have been mentioned so often in this book. This list was unfortunately even then incomplete and has since then become larger. Through the departure of Auguste Barth († 1916), Mabel K. H. Bode († 1922), Julius Eggeling († 1918), John Faithful Fleet († 1917), A. F. Rudolf Hoernle († 1918), Colonel G. A. Jacob († 1918), Joh. Kirste († 1920), Ernst Kuhn († 1920), Karl Eugen Neumann († 1915), Vincent A. Smith († 1920), George Thibaut († 1914) and Satis Chandra Vidyābhūṣaṇa († 1920) the band of Indologists has become thinner. A glance at the Index will demonstrate the extent to which the present work owes to them.

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With melancholy I thank the always helpful friend Śāstraviśārada Jainācārya Vijayadharmasūri, who did me the favour of procuring for my work many rare and hardly available Indian publications. In his last letter of July 21 from Śivapurī, Gwalior State, where he was spending the rainy season, he had written that he was ailing but was feeling better and hoped to be well soon. He was pleased at my visit I had paid to him last autumn. I too was happy on my arrival in India to call at his place and I thank him for his kindness. Now when I am writing this foreword, I get the sad news that the venerable Jaina priest expired on September 9 of this year. The promotion of European learned work had always been dear to his heart. May the collaboration of the Indian and European scholars continue in the manner and extent he had wanted ! This has certainly already reached the cross-word of knowledge of India.

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Prague, October 1922

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M. WINTERNITZ

List of Abbreviations

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[ USED IN THIS VOLUME ]

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ABA = Abhandlungen der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philol.-histor. Klasse.

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ABayA = Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Phil. Klasse.

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AGGW = Abhandlungen der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philol.-histor. Klasse.

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AKM = Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, herausg. von der Deutschen Morganländischen Gesellschaft.

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ĀnSS = Ānandāśrama Sanskrit Series (Poona).

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AR = Archiv für Religionsgeschichte.

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ASGW = Abhandlungen der philol.-histor. Klasse der Köngl. Sächs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften.

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Aufrecht, Bod. Cat = Th. Aufrecht, Catalogus Codicum MSS. Sanscriticorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae, Oxonii 1859—64.

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Aufrecht CC = Th. Aufrecht, Catalogus Catalogarum. Leipzig 1891; II, 1896; III, 1903.

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Aufrecht, Leipzig = Katalog der Sanskrit-Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek zu Leipzig 1901.

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BEFEO = Bulletin de l’ecole française d’Extrême Orient.

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Benfey = Pantschatantra aus dem Sanskrit übersetzt mit Einleitung u. Anm. by Th. Benfey, Leipzig 1859.

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BenSS = Benares Sanskrit Series.

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Bezz. Beitr. = Beiträge zur Kunde der indogermanischen Sprachen herausg. von A. Bezzenberger.

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Bhandarkar, Report 1882/83 = R. G. Bhandarkar, Report on the Search for Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Bombay Presidency during the year 1882-83, Bombay 1884.

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Bhandarkar, Report 1883/84 = R. G. Bhandarkar, Report on the Search for Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Bombay Presidency during the year 1883/84, Bombay 1887.

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Bhandarkar, Report 1884/87 = R. G. Bhandarkar, Report etc. during the years 1884-85, 1885-86 and 1886-87, Bombay 1894.

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Bhandarkar, Report 1887/91=R.G. Bhandarkar, Report etc. during the years 1887-88, ......1890-91, Bombay 1897.

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S. R. Bhandarkar, Report II=Shridhar R. Bhandarkar, Report of a Second Tour in Search of Sanskrit Manuscripts made in Rajputana and Central India in 1904-5 and 1905-6. Bombay 1907.

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Bhandarkar Comm. Vol.=Commemoration Essays presented to Sir Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, Poona 1917.

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Bibl. Ind.=Bibliotheca Indica.

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BSGW=Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Königl. Sächsischen Gessellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philol.-histor. Klasse.

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BSOS=Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, London Institution.

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BSS=Bombay Sanskrit Series.

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Bühler, Hemacandra=G. Bühler, Über das Leben des Jaina-Mönches Hemacandra: Denkschriften der Wiener Akademie 1889.

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Bühler, Report=G. Bühler, Detailed Report of a Tour in Search of Sanskrit Manuscripts made in Kaśmir, Rajputana, and Central India. Extra Number of the JBRAS 1887.

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Burnell, Tanjore=A.C. Burnell, A classified Index to the Sanskrit MSS in the Palace at Tanjore, London 1880.

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ChSS=Chowkhambā Sanskrit Series (Benares)

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CUIS=Columbia University Indo-Iranian Series, ed. by A.V.W. Jackson.

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Deussen, AGPh=P. Deussen, Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie 1, 1—3. Leipzig 1894 (2. Aufl. 1906)—1908.

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DLZ=Deutsche Literaturzeitung.

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Duff=C. Mabel Duff. The Chronology of India, Westminster 1899.

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Ep. Ind.=Epigraphia Indica

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ERE=Encyclopaedia of Religions and Ethics, edited by James Hastings.

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Festschrift Kuhn=Aufsätze zur Kultur-und Sprachgeschichte vornehmlich des Orients Ernst Kuhn...gewidmet... München 1916.

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Festschrift Windisch=Festschrift Ernst Windisch zum 70. Geburtstag ...dargebracht...Leipzig 1914.

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GGA=Göttinger Gelehrte Anzeigen.

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Grundriss=Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde.

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GSAI=Giornale della Società America Asiatica Italiana-

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Haeberlin=Kāvyasaṁgraha by J. Haeberlin, Calcutta 1847.

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Harprasād, Report I, II=Haraprasād Śāstrī, Report on the Search of Sanskrit MSS (1895-1900). Calcutta 1901 and (1901-02 to 1905-06) Calcutta 1905.

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HOS=Harvard Oriental Series, ed. by Ch. R. Lanman.

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Ind. Ant.=Indian Antiquary.

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Ind. Off. Cal.=Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, London 1887 ff.

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Ind. Stud.=Indische Studien, herausgegeben von A. Weber.

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JA=Journal Asiatique.

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JAOS=Journal of the American Oriental Society.

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JASB=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

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JBRAS=Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

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JPTS=Journal of the Pāli Text Society.

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JRAS=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

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Kathavate, Report=A. V. Kathavate, Report on the Search for Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Bombay Presidency... 1891-92...1894-95. Bombay 1901.

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Keith, HSL=A.B. Keith, History of Classical Sanskrit Literature.

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Keith, SD=A. B. Keith, Sanskrit Drama.

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Km.=Kāvyamālā (Bombay).

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Krishnamacharya=M. Krishnamacharya, A History of the Classical Sanskrit Literature, Madras 1906.

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Lévi=Sylvain Lévi, Le Théatre Indien, Paris 1890.

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LZB=Literarisches Zentralblatt.

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Mélanges Lévi=Mélanges d'Indianisme offerts par ses élèves á M. Sylvain Lévi...Paris 1911.

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NGGW=Nachrichten von der Kgl. : Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften Göttingen, Philog.-histor. Klasse.

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NSP=Nirṇaya Sāgara Press (Bombay).

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OC=Orientalistenkongresse (Verhandlungen, Transactions, Actes).

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Oldenberg LAI = H. Oldenberg, Die Literatur des alten Indien, Stuttgart u. Berlin 1903.

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OTF. = Oriental Translation Fund.

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Peterson, Report 1882-83 = P. Peterson, Report on the Search for Sanskrit MSS in the Bombay Circle 1882-83 (JBRAS, vol. 16, Extra Number).

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Peterson, Report II = P. Peterson. A Second Report of Operations in Search of Sanskrit MSS...1883-84. JBRAS, vol. 17, Extra Number).

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Peterson, Report IV = P. Peterson, A Fourth Report... 1886-92. (JBRAS, vol. 18, Extra Number).

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Peterson, Report V = P. Peterson. A Fifth Report...April 1892—March 1895, Bombay 1896.

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Peterson 3. Reports = P. Peterson, Three Reports on a Search for Sanskrit MSS with an Index of Books (JBRAS Vol. 18, Extra Number.) 1887.

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Peterson, Subh. = The Subhāṣitāvali of Vallabhadeva, ed. by P. Peterson (BSS 1886). Introduction.

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Pischel, KG = R. Pischel, Die indische Literatur, in Kultur der Gegenwart I, 7, 1906.

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PTS = Pali Text Society.

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RHR = Reveue de l'histoire des Religions, Paris.

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RSO = Rivista degli studi Orientali, Rom.

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Rückert-Nachlese = Sammlung der zerstreuten Gedichte und Übersetzungen Friedrick Rückerts herausg. von L. Hirsberg, Weimar 1910-11.

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SBA = Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften.

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SBay A = Sitzungberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wiss., Philol.-histor. Kl.

v3.c34.79

SBE = Sacred Books of the East (Oxford).

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Schroeder, ILC = L. von Schroeder, Indiens Literatur und Cultur, Leipzig 1887.

v3.c34.81

Schyler, Bibliography = M. Schuyler, Bibliography of the Sanskrit Drama, New York 1906.

v3.c34.82

SIFI = Studi Italiani di Filologia Indo-Iranica.

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Smith, Early History = Vincent A Smith, The Early History of India. Third Edition, Oxford 1914.

v3.c34.84

SWA = Sitzungssberichte der Wiener Akademie der Wissenschaften.

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Thomas=Kavīndravacanasamuccaya, A Sanskrit Anthology of Verses, ed. by F. W. Thomas, Bibl. Ind. 1912. TSS=Trivendrum Sanskrit Series. VizSS=Vizianagram Sanskrit Series (Benares). Weber, HSS. Verz.=A. Weber, Verzeichnis der Sanskrit- und Prākrit-Handschriften der K. Bibliothek zu Berlin. Weber, LG=A. Weber, Akademische Vorlesungen über indische Literaturgeschichte, 2. Auflage, Berlin 1876. Wilson=H.H. Wilson, Select Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus (Works, vols. XI, XII). W=Winternitz in places where he has referred to his own view S. Winternitz-Keith. Bcdl. Cat.=Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. II begun by M. Winternitz, Continued and completed by A.B. Keith, Oxford 1905. WZKM=Wiener Zeitschift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes. ZDMG=Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes. ZII=Zeitschrift für Indologie und Iranistik herausgegeben von der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. ZVV=Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde in Berlin.

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Section IV. Ornate Poetry

Characteristics of Ornate Poetry

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By "ornate poetry" the people in the west render the Indian term "kāvya" which, though ordinarily meaning "poetry", in rhetorics has the special connotation—polished expression", the main characteristic whereof, as a poetic piece, is that it attaches more importance to the form than to the subject-matter. It was cultivated particularly, if not exclusively¹, in the courts of Indian princes and, consequently, is often styled "court poetry".

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¹ Not only the princes, but all high dignitaries and rich people, as a rule, appear as patrons of poets, and literary "saloons" flourished not only in courts but also in Brāhmaṇical settlements and in big cities...Cf. F.W. Thomas, JRAS 1910, 972f.

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Originally, even the old heroic poetry, that later became so popular, as we learn from the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, was courtly. The bards (sūtas), who were the carriers and propagators of this ballad lore, too, lived in the courts of the princes and sang to make their exploits known. They would accompany their patrons even to battlefields, so that on return they could sing of the exploits of the warriors. These court bards stood closer to the Kṣatriyas than to the learned Brāhmaṇas. Very often they worked as chariot-drivers of the warriors in these campaigns and participated in their ventures. It was, however, a time of unrest in which these heroic songs originated—an age of strifes and crude practices, when hunting, gambling, and competitive contests were favourite recreations of the princes. It was only during hours of rest, at banquet gatherings, victory celebrations, and on occasions of sacrificial performances that bards would recite their ballads². Firstly as life in courts became more refined, in place of these bards there came in more learned artisans who were brought up in the schools of the Brāhmaṇas and competed in scholarly contests with them. These poets described strifes and battles too merely on the basis of heresays in a mechanical manner. They would attach greater importance to the elegance of form and to erudition¹ than to the creative faculty or poetical talent. Writers of panegyrics who could sing in praise of their patrons in artistic verses were past masters in the poetic art. Apparently, panegyric constituted the original theme of this kind of poetry (for being sung publicly in courts). And this explains also the origin of the kāvya style, that is to say—the style of court poetry. The more the poet strained himself, the more he displayed his skill, the more difficult his work, and the prince felt flattered the more².

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² Cf. above I, 262 (tr. p. 315) and Hertel, Tantrākhyāyikā, I, pp. 10ff. Indians call the Mahābhārata too a "kāvya"; see above I,267 (tr. p. 312).

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¹ Even a poet of the eminence of Kālidāsa does not escape this; he too airs his knowledge of grammar occasionally in similes; see Raghuvamśa 12, 58 and 15, 9.

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² [2. The other view about the origin and development of the "kāvya" style may be presented as follows: "The pessimism of the Buddhistic ideal gradually disappeared, having been replaced by more-accommodating views about the value of pleasure. Even the Buddhist author of the Nāgānanda has thought it fit to weave a love-theme into the lofty story of Jīmūtavāhana's self-sacrifice, and in his opening benedictory stanza he does not hesitate to represent the Buddha as being scolded for his hard-heartedness by the ladies of Māra's train. From Patañjali's references we find that from its very dawn love was recognised as one of the dominant themes of kāvya poetry. The Buddhist conception of the love god as Māra or Death makes way for the flower-arrowed god who is anticipated in the Atharvaveda and is established in the epics, but whose appearance, name and personality are revived and developed in the fullest measure in the kāvya.

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"The dominant love-motif of the kāvya is explained by the social environment in which it grows and from which alone it can obtain recognition. It is, however, not court-life alone which inspires this literature. At the centre of it stands the nāgaraka, the polished man of the town, whose culture, tastes and habits so largely mould this literature that he may be taken to be as typical of it as the priest or the philosopher is of the literature of the Brāhmaṇas or the Upaniṣads.
"It is not impossible to offer a compromise between these two divergent views on the development of kāvya that is neither wholly heroic or courtish, nor completely erotic. Poetry developed in courts no doubt, but its background was laid in the society at the same time. Naturally, therefore, whilst the poet would like to sing in praise of his patrons, he would introduce anecdotes from the life of the common man for the development of his theme in a suitable manner. Poetry offers recreations. Neither the heroic kāvya nor the erotic alone could be always agreeable; of course in the opinion of the Indian rhetoricians the vira or the śṛṅgāra could become the dominant sentiment of kāvya.
This blending of two different tastes in kāvya is reflected in the writings and legends of the very ancient period. Rājā Janaka, the ascetic king of Mithilā, is reported as maintaining a band of courtesans and the Buddha is described as pining in his anxiety for the welfare of the world, for peace, patience and enjoyment. (S. K. De, Sans. Lit. p. 18 ff.) ].

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Earliest evidence traces of "court poetry" is found in the Rāmāyaṇa. Indians themselves call Vālmīki "the first poet (ādikavi)" and the Rāmāyaṇa "the first poem (ādikāvya)", and several sections of this epic, in fact, already exhibit in full characteristics of the kāvya style¹. The court epic of the classical age of Sanskrit poetry presents this style in full blossom; besides, it has made inroads into lyrical compositions, gnomic poetry, drama, and narrative literature, and has not spared even the religious poetry of the Buddhists and the Jainas.

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¹ See above, I, 404f. (tr. p. 475). The possibility indeed is not always ruled out that here we have a case of later-day interpolation made in an old poem. Cf. above I,416 A, 417A, 424, 431 (tr. pp. 489,490,497,505). The places showing the kāvya style are more seldom in the Mahābhārata (ibid I, 308, 320, 393 (tr. pp. 364,376,461) and the Harivaṁśa (ibid, I,387A, tr. p.452). [Keith, Sans. Lit. p. 43—Vālmīki and those who improved upon him, probably in the period 400-200 B.C. are clearly the legitimate ancestors of the court epic. Although some of its parts showing elegances of style, which mark the poem, are later additions, there is no ground whatever to admit that these additions fall later than the second century B.C., and they may be even earlier in date (ibid, p. 42). Jacobi, Rāmāyaṇa, pp. 119ff. The Rāmāyaṇa also shows the development of the śloka metre almost in its classical state; cf. SIFI. VII, ii, 38ff. Love charms of the Atharvaveda attest the beginning of erotic poetry (IS. V, 218ff. Keith, ibid)].

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The essential peculiarities of the kāvya style are:—accumulation of similes and fascination for long, winding descriptions—especially for certain stereotyped representations (e.g., of the seasons, the sun-rise, the moonlit night, etc.). Descriptions of this sort not infrequently occupy so much space that the subject of the poem disappears into the back-ground so much so that the contents of many cantos of an epic or of books of a romance at a stretch become capable of two distinct interpretations. Not to speak of employing artificial internally rhyming and artistically-constituted metres, the use of rare words and long compounds of words with more than one meanings, strange, play of words, strenuous efforts made throughout to express nothing in a straight-forward way², with a desire to conceal as much as possible or to express an idea in a round-about way and that too in the form of a riddle¹. The climax of artistry is attained when a poet succeeds in making one and the same sentence or verse express two different ideas at one and the same time! This phase of Indian poetry cannot be better described than through these stanzas of Fr. T. Vischer's² ridiculing symbolico-mystic poetry:

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² [2. This point has been further elaborated by inclusion of poetic conventions in this list by S. K. De, Sans. Lit., p. 28 ff. There he refers to the following in support of the view : Kāvyādarsa I, 14-19; Sāhityadarpaṇa VI, 315-25; Kāvyamīmāṁsā XIV; Kāvyakalpalatā I, 5; Sāhityadarpaṇa VII, 23-24 etc.; and M. Bloomfield Festschrift, Ernst. Windisch, Leipzig 1914, pp. 349-61; JAOS XXXVI, 1917, p. 54-89; XL 1920, p. 1-12; XLIV 1924, 202-42); W. Norman Brown, JAOS XLVII, 1927 pp. 3-24; etc. Here he has further successfully justified the standpoint of the Indian poets (ibid, pp. 32 ff.)].

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¹ The rhetorician Ānandavardhana says: *prasiddham astyeva vidagdhavidvatpariṣatsu yad abhimataṁ vastu vyaṅgyatvena prakāśyate na sākṣād-vācyatvena*, “In the refined society of the cultured people it is a settled practice that one does not speak out what lies in one’s inmost heart in a straight-forward manner, rather that one should convey it in the form of a suggestion, (Dhvanyāloka IV, 5, translated into German by H. Jacobi, ZDMG 57, 335).

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² In his parody “Faust, der Tragoedie, dritter Teil (6th ed.. Tübingen 1907, 165 ff.).

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“That Poetry above is most valuable
As has its meaning quite—obscure!”
“That which a reader understands without much strain
Comparable to the ordinary home-made bread surely is,
The finest pastry of his bakery is out
What the poet projects in a riddle.”
“Poetry radiates its magic light most brilliantly—
When a reader baffled breaks his head in vain”.

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“Kāvya” poetry, is not only artificial, it is also learned. The real poet must have studied most of the different sciences. Needs must he master lexicons for the purpose of finding out the rarest possible words and such words as have diverse meanings, with a view to being able to form long compounds analysable in different ways and capable of connoting different meanings. He must learn grammar so that he may not err in verbal structures. He must be adept in treatises on war-craft and politics for introducing in his poem descriptions of wars and political trickeries in appropriate contexts. He must be thoroughly familiar with the science of erotics (kāmaśāstra) to be able to describe love-scenes and sentiments of loving couples in accordance with “prescribed” regulations. Above this he must have made his own the text-books on prosody and poetics in order to introduce into his poem possibly the most difficult metres and a rich variety of the figures of speech (alaṁkāras, “embellishments”). It is significant to note that Indians designate what in Europe is called poetics as “The Science of Embellishment (Alaṁkāraśāstra)”.

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In order to achieve a true representation of Indian poetry it is necessary to study Indian poetics along with dramaturgy and prosody as closely associated disciplines. Although such a study properly would have constituted a section on scientific literature, even here it will be not out place, since this science itself is originally based on certain master-works that belonged to poetry on the one hand and to the earlier traditions of the Alaṁkāraśāstra on the other. Moreover, these treatises on poetics always illustrate their rules with examples either composed by the authors of the manuals themselves or cited from (in their opinion) the best poets, or from anthologies, (in which are preserved many pieces of genuine poetry, that otherwise would have been lost).

Indian Poetics, Dramaturgy and Prosody

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Poetics (alaṁkāraśāstra) has been cultivated in India from a very early date as a science. However, we do not possess the earliest work. As is mostly the case with Indian scientific literature, we know about the existence of earlier works only from quotations from them in later manuals. As soon as a more recent scientific work became famous or proved practical, the earlier works, in general, were referred to with respect and there their story ended. Hence they have not come down to us. Even so is the case with the alaṁkāraśāstra too.

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Usually it is assumed that poetics is preserved in its oldest form in the Bhāratīya-Nāṭyaśāstra², a text book on dramaturgy by Muni Bharata¹. Critics appear first to have felt the necessity of writing manuals for mimes for the purpose of giving the players necessary guidance in dramatic performances and in representations of dramatic poetry. From brief rules or a primer for actors (naṭasūtra)² might have developed more voluminous text books on dramaturgy (nāṭyaśāstra), in which not only mimicry, dance, music and song, but also dramatic songs would be dealt with. Then from it must have, first of all, issued individual manuals on the art of poetry or poetics. In this way we can at least explain the supposition that the theory on the art of poetry, in its oldest form, is found in the Bhāratīya-Nāṭyaśāstra. But our misfortune is that this Bhāratīya-Nāṭyaśāstra has not come down to us in its original form and is available in fragments only, wherein mostly half the text is found in a very bad condition.

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¹ Cf. P. Regnaud, La Rhétorique Sanskrite, Paris 1884; R. Pischel, GGA 1885, p. 757 ff; G.A. Jacob, JRAS 1897, 281ff; 1898, 289 ff.; Joh. Nobel, Beitrage zur älteren Geschichte der Alaṁkāraśāstra; Diss., Berlin 1911, and ZDMG 66, 1912, 283 ff.; 67, 1913, 1 ff.; 73, 1919, 189 ff.; P.V. Kane, Outlines of the History of Alaṁkāra Literature. Ind. Ant. 41, 1912, 124 ff.; H. Oldenberg, LAI 203 ff.; Hari Chand, Kālidāsa et l'art poétique de l'Inde, Paris 1917. The best representation of Indian poetics and theory of poetry is given by H. Jacobi in "Uber Begriff und Wesen der poetischen Figuren in der indischen Poctik", NGGW 1908, and in "Die Poetik und Ästhetik der Inder" in the Internat. Wochenschrift, 29 Oct. 1910. [Contributions to the Alaṁkāraśāstra literature have been made also by F.W. Thomas and V.V. Sovani in Bhandarkar Com. Vol. 375ff., 387ff. ].

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² W. Heymann was the first scholar to throw light on the Bhāratīya-Nāṭyāśāstra on the basis of south Indian manuscripts in NGGW 1874, 86ff. P. Regnaud published a number of chapters: Adhyāya 6-74 in the La Rhétorique Sanskrite, Paris 1884, adhy. 15-17 in the Annales du Musée Guimet, part I and part II. The adhy. 20-22 and 34 (=18—20 and 34 of the Km. ed.) are published by F.E. Hall in the Annexture to his edition ot Daśarūpa. The adhy. 28 (on music) has been published by J. Grosset, Contribution à l'étude de la musique hindoue, Paris 1888. A critical edition of the adhy. 1—14 by J. Grosset appeared in Paris 1898. The complete work is published in the Km. 42, 1894. F. Cimmin's L'uso delle didascalie nel dramma Indiano, Napoli 1912 was known to W. only through the review of Pavolini (GSAI 25, 1937, 321 f.). The discovery of a complete manuscript has been announced by S. Lévi in Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres 1899, p. 85. Cf. also H. H. Dhruva in Asiat. Quart. Review III, 2, 1896, 349 ff. and Haraprasād Śāstri in JASB 5, 1909, 351 ff.

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¹ At the end of the book occurs the word "Nandibharata-*saṅgītapustakam*", that is capable of two interpretations : it may suggest that Nandibharata was its author, or it may mean that the copy of the manuscript belonged to a person of that name. The latter one appears more cogent on account of the occurrence of *samāptaścāyam*, both in the masculine, before it, since *ayam* cannot be used in relation to *pustakam*. The name Nandi-bharata appears also as the author of a work on music (Aufrecht, CC I, 276), and Nandin as author of a work on mimic (Abhinayadarpaṇa). However, there, is also one Abhinayadarpaṇa of Nandikeśvara (Aufrecht CC III, s.v.). This book has been translated into English by Anand Coomaraswamy and G. K. Duggira (Cambridge, Mass. 1917), see L. D. Barnett, JRAS 1917, 627f. Bharata means also "actor." R. Pischel, KG. 183 has translated the Bhāratīya-Nāṭyaśāstra, therefore, as "Lehrbuch der Schauspielkunst für Schauspieler—Manual of Histrionic Art for Actors" and adds "Or, as the Indian interpret, of Bharata, who is considered to be the director of the theatre of gods and is claimed to be the originator of the drama". Firstly, it is doubtful if the word "Bharata" means "actor" and therefore, cannot be associated with the mythical author of Nāṭyaśāstra, or if Bharata, as the name of the author of the famous manual on the historionic art could later get the meaning "actor". In the Viṣṇupurāṇa III, 6, Muni Bharata is named as the originator of the Gandharvaveda, that is to say, of Music.

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² This was known to Pāṇini 4, 3, 110.

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The Nāṭyaśāstra, as inherited by us, has an encyclopaedic character and gives the impression as if it is collected from several different texts. It is composed in greater part in the epical ślokas, but there occur also verses in other metres (notably in Āryā) and small stray big pieces in prose. The work comprises of 38 sections (adhyāyas or “lessons”).

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The first and the last three sections relate to the origin of the art of drama and are wholly mythical. The gods, under the leadership of Indra, expressed their desire for some sort of entertainment that should be enjoyable by the eye and delightful to the ear at the same time, to the creator Brahman, the grand’Father, who was pleased to create, as a fifth Veda—the Nāṭyaveda. It was proposed that the drama should be staged for the first time on the occasion of the flag ceremony (*dhvaja-mahaḥ*) to celebrate the defeat of the demons by the gods in honour of Indra and in his palace. Bharata and his disciples made arrangements for its staging. They selected as its plot the victory of the gods over the demons. The gods, when they saw it, were very much pleased, and they distributed rewards to the actors. The demons, who too were there, became very much angry and they threw all sorts of obstacles, catastrophically paralysing the tongue, the mind and the skill of the actors with demoniac magic. Indra became very angry and severely chastised the demons. The actors were again busy with preparation for the stage and again the aggrieved demons presented obstacles in their way. Adequate security measures were taken by the gods; then they requested the creator Brahman to find out if the matter could be settled by mutual agreement. Accordingly Brahman approached the demons and inquired as to what the trouble was with them. The chief of the demons replied that both the gods and the demons had in the creator Brahman their common grand’Father and as such the grand’Father ought not to have done this. Brahman appeased them by explaining that the Nāṭyaveda he had created would depict both the noble as well as the ignoble activities of the gods as of the demons, and concluded by saying: “This art has been created by me as reflecting of life and activity of the world, with all the different sentiments amidst changing situations and in their entirety as a centre, where the activities of the people (the highest, middle and lowest) converge—so as to have the same as a medium of education and as a force, giving impetus to bravery and as a source of entertainment, pleasure, etc. There is no learning, no craft, no science, no fine art, no religious exercise (yoga), no ascetic discipline, that is not witnessed in this Nāṭyaveda”¹. In the last two sections is described how the drama that was first staged in the court of Indra in the presence of gods by the disciples of Bharata and Nārada came to the earth in consequence of a curse from the sages, (whom the actors had ridiculed rather vulgarly) to the effect that they would have to lead a despised life, maintained by their women and children. At this Indra and other gods expressed their fear to the sages that the art of drama might perish, to which the latter said that they had not meant so and that it would not be so. Thereupon, Bharata taught this science to the apsarases so that it might not die out. At the time king Nahuṣa was ruling over the earth. He was a great friend of Indra. The king of men requested the king of gods to depute the apsarases (actresses) to stage a drama in his palace on the earth. But the gods led by Bṛhaspati objected to the free association of the divine beings with the human’s. Nevertheless, they advised Bharata to go to the earth and organise the drama there. The latter asked his children and disciples to go to the earth and wished them to be born there. They instantly obeyed and through them developed on earth the drama. To minimise the effect of the curse god Brahman blessed that it should never die.

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¹ I, 78f, 82. (Grosset 110f., 115).

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This wholly mythological framing of the text-book, reminiscent of the purāṇas as it is, in any case, shows that the histrionic art was held in great esteem and played a significant part in the life of the people.

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The individual chapters of the Nāṭyaśāstra, however, are not concerned with the drama alone as a form of literature, but rather with theatrical performance as a whole. They describe construction of the stage and its inauguration with observance of religious ceremonies (II, III) and the different types of physical movements in dance and mimicry (IV, VIII-XIV, XXIV, XXV). For example, here is enjoined how the actor will express the setting-in of the various seasons: winter, summer etc., the feelings of pleasure, anger, jealousy, etc., explaining facts about the pūrvaraṅga—that is the religious prelude to the performance (V), the sentiments (rasa, VI), emotions (bhāvas, VII), prosody (chandaḥ XV) and the figures of speech (alaṁkāra, XVI), the different languages and dialects to be used in dramas and their allocation to different characters, the modulation of voice, etc. (XVII), the ten types of dramatic poetry (daśarūpa) and their distinctive characters (XVIII), the development of action in the drama (XIX), the different kinds of dramatic style of composition (XX), the costumes, the decoratives, colours of the dress and ornaments etc., distinguishing the different characters (gods, demi-gods, and the different castes, etc.) appearing on the stage (XXI), the many types of heroes, heroines and characters in the play (XXII-XXIV)¹, the allotment of roles to and the training of actors (XXVI, XXXV), the time, place and occasion for a performance etc., etc., (XXVII) and for music and songs (XXVIII-XXXIV).

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¹ XXII, 94-138 and XXIII, 51 ff. The portion dealing with the lover and the beloved has been translated by R. Schmidt, Beiträge zur indischen Erotik, p. 250 ff. and 161 f., into German.

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The arrangement is in no way systematic and makes us feel that probably we do not have here a work of single author, but a compilation of older and more recent texts, before us. The original work, presumably, was a sūtra-text, in the manner of the oldest scientific writings². The memorial verses (kārikās), that relate to the histrionic art, had early already existed. It is, however, not possible to determine the time when the oldest texts, from which our work was compiled, were written. And, likewise, we have yet to establish the time when the redaction of the text-book, as we have it, took place³. The fact that it did undergo such a final redaction is proved by its purāṇa-style construction and as a regular dialogue between the Muni (Bharata) and the ṛṣis. With regard to the time of its composition we can only say this that a work on dramaturgy ascribed to Bharata did indeed exist during the time of the poet Bhāsa¹. Kālidāsa mentions not only the Nāṭyaśāstra, but knows also its law-giver Bharata². Mātṛgupta, a contemporary of Kālidāsa, is believed to have written a metrical commentary on it³.

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² A poet of the 9th century comparing the dark waves of the Yamunā with the style of Bharata, points to a sūtra form (see Lévi 300).

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³ When Regnaud (cf. Lévi 299 f., Oldenberg, LAI 205) gives "the first century of the Christian era" as the time of Bharata, his statement is as much unfounded as that of Pischel (GGA 1885, 763 f.) when he comes down to the 6th or 7th century A.D. P. R. Bhandarkar (Ind. Ant. 41, 1912, 158 f.) rightly explains that it will be futile to attempt to determine the age of the author of the Nāṭyaśāstra, since it is a remodelled work. He believes with regard to the chapter on music especially that its age can never be earlier than the 4th century. Haraprasād Śāstri (JASB 6, 1910, 307) conjectures that the Nātvaśāstra belongs to the 2nd century A.D. Jacobi (Bhavisatta Kaha von Dhaṇavāla p. 84) "perhaps to the 3rd century". P.V. Kane (Ind. Ant. 46, 1917, 177 ff.) shows that Bhāratīya-Nāṭyaśāstra could not have been written later than the 3rd century A.D.

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¹ Sten Konow in Festschrift Kuhn, p. 111.

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² Mālavikāgnimitram, Act 1; Vikramorvaśīyam, Act III, where Bharata enters as a stage-director in the celestial palace of Indra and where too is mentioned the doctrine of eight rasas. Report about staging a drama in the heaven is found also in the Uttararāmacaritam of Bhavabhūti.

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³ So according to a quotation in Nāṭyapradīpa of Sundaramiśra (1613 A.D.). Cf. Eggeling, Ind. Off. Cat. III, p. 348. The kārikās of Kāvyaprakāśa (4, 7-11) are identical with Bharatiya-Nāṭyaśāstra VI, 18-22). Bhāratīya-Nāṭyaśāstra has been quoted at Kāvyaprakāśa, 4, 27 f. Poet Acala hails Bharata, as the author of the Nātyaśāstra in a pillar edict (8th or 9th century A.D.) in two verses; see Kielhorn, Ep. Ind. VII, App. Nr. 1042.

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The basic principle of rasas or "sentiments" in Indian poetics and aesthetics must have been developed for the first time in the Nāṭyaśāstra⁴. The word rasa primarily means "taste". Just as different spices leave behind different tastes, sweet or sour or bitter, even so does the emotion (bhāva) represented on the stage arouse in the mind of the audience apt sentiments. Bharat observes eight such rasas, namely : the sentiments excited through love (śṛṅgāra), humour (hāsya), pity (karuṇā) terror (raudra), heroism (vīra), fear (bhayānaka), aversion (bībhatsa)⁵ and astonishment (adbhuta)⁶. From this theory of the rasas originates the remarkable system of Indian aesthetics as an inevitable offshoot from its psychological theory of emotions (bhāvas). When one reads, however, the strikingly apt and scientific, though elaborated classification of the plot (vastu, itivṛtta) of heroes (nāyakas) and heroines (nāyikās)¹ and of many another matter besides, it becomes clear unfortunately that we have before us a pretty fruitless science that is devoted more to classification and systematisation than to exploration of facts and formulation of rules. Much the same is the case with poetics too.

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⁴ Cf. Max Lindenau, Beiträge zur altindischen Rasalehre, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Nāṭyaśāstra das Bharata Muni. Diss. Leipzig 1913. Rudra (Śṛṅgāratilaka 1, 5) expressly says that he generally uses the rasa-theory in poetry too which is usually confined to drama alone by Bharata and others.

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⁵ W. has bībhatsā.

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⁶ It points to fine dramatic taste amongst Indian rhetoricians that they exclude the sentiment of peace (śānta) from a performance permitting it exclusively in didactic poetry.

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¹ W. nayakī.

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In the section on poetic embellishments (alaṁkāras) Bharata has not so much to say as the other text books on poetics have. In fact the number of figures of embellishments in his book falls far short of those of Bhāmaha, Udbhaṭa, Daṇḍin etc.

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The Agnipurāṇa, which deals with poetics in chapters 336—346, includes chapters 337—341 devoted to the drama exclusively, approaching the Bhāratīya-Nāṭyaśāstra scheme even literally. Whilst, however, Bharata knows only ten types of drama, in the Agnipurāṇa there are enumerated its 27 varieties. Chapter 340 in particular treats of mimicry in detail. Here we are told, for example, that there are 13 different kinds of postures for the head, 7 different kinds of movements for the eye-brows, 36 ways of expressing sadness eyes, 58 love through eyes, 6 turns for the nose, 24 gestures for the hand, etc. Then, poetic embellishments themselves are divided into "embellishments of the sound" (śabdālaṅkāra) and "embellishments of the meaning" (arthālaṁkāra)—a division yet unknown to Bharata. The highly complicated figures of speech enumerated in the Agnipurāṇa show that this section on Indian poetics does not go to a very high antiquity².

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² All that we can say about the antiquity of the Agnipurāṇa is that it is cited as an authority in the Sāhityadarpaṇa (see Lévi, op. cit. p. 16).

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The older school of poetics is represented by three rhetoricians: Bhāmaha, Daṇḍin and Vāmana.

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That Bhāmaha, the son of Rakrilagomin, is the oldest among native rhetoricians (those whose works have survived to date), stand to reason on weighty grounds³, although we are position to determine his exact date. He is often quoted by later rhetoricians with high esteem. His Kāvyālaṁkāra¹ is written in ślokas and treats in six sections of the "body of poetry", the embellishments, the faults, the logic and grammatical correctness of poetry. In the introductory verses Bhāmaha refutes the idea that one can become a poet only through mastery of rhetorics, and stresses the importance of poetic genius:

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³ They have been stated by Jacobi, ZDMG 64, 1910, 130ff., 751 ff., Joh. Nobel, Beiträge zur altern Geschichte des Alaṁkāraśāstra, p. 78, f.; and passim (see also ZDMG 73, 1919, 190 ff.), K.P. Trivedi, Pratāparudrayaśobhūṣana, Introd. p. XXVIII ff and Ind. Ant. 42, 1913, 258 ff., and R. Narasimhachara, Ind. Ant. 41, 1912, 90 ff., 42, 1913, 205 and have not been weakened by K.B. Pathak, Ind. Ant. 41, 1912, 232 ff. T. Narasimhiengar and P.V. Kane, JRAS 1905, 535 ff. and 1908, 543 f. consider Bhāmaha younger than Daṇḍin. Gaṇapati Śāstrī (Bhāsa's Svapnavāsavadattam, Intro. p. XXV ff.) adduces very weak arguments in support of his view that Bhāmaha lived in the first century A.D. It is apparent that he flourished later than Kālidāsa, since I, 42 (as W. in spite of Nobel, ZDMG 73, 192., believes) presupposes an acquaintance with Meghadūta. See also Hari Chand, Kālidāsa, p. 70 ff. [Keith, Sans. Lit. p. 375 ff., considers Bhāmaha posterior to Daṇḍin, since Bhāmaha's defence of the distinction between kathā and ākhyāyikā seems especially directed against Daṇḍin's views on the subject. Bhāmaha certainly used the work of Uddyotakara (c. 650 A.D.), and probably knew Nyāsa (c. 700)]. On Bhāmaha see also V. V. Sovani, Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume 392 f., and K. P. Trivedi, 401 ff. ibid. Bhāmaha's time is fixed to a point (as Jacobi has shown in an unpublished essay, communicated to W. on June 3, 1922 in course of a private talk) from the fact that he has quoted from Nyāyabindu of Dharmakīrti at two places, almost literally. According to Jacobi Bhāmaha lived later than 640 A.D. and Daṇḍin still later—towards the end of the 7th century A.D. This accords well with the fact that Daṇḍin in his Kāvyādarśa, II, 197 gives a reminiscence from Bāṇa's Kādambarī (see Peterson, Daśakumāracarita Ed., II, Preface p. 3, note). G. J. Agashe, Ind. Ant. 44, 1915, 67 f. would like to prove that Daśakumāracarita's Daṇḍin is different from Kāvyādarśa's. But his argument is not convincing.

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¹ Published in Appendix VIII to K. P. Trivedi's edition of the Pratāparudrayaśobhūṣana (BSS Nr. 65, 1909).

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*adhanasyeva dātṛtvaṁ klībasyevāstrakauśalaṁ* ।
*ajñasyeva pragalbhatvam akaveḥ śāstravedanam* ॥
"Like generosity to a beggar,
Or like bravery to a coward,
Or proficiency in arts to the unlettered,
Rhetoric science hath no meaning,
To one, who is not a poet."
*vinayena vinā kā śrīḥ kā niśā śaśinā vinā* ।
*rahitā satkavitvena kīdṛśī vāgvidagdhatā* ॥
"What charm is there in beauty lacking grace?
Or there in night's wan moonless face?
Or without poetic touch or fling or trace,
What sort of beauty one finds in words?"
*akavitvaṁ adharmāya vyādhaye daṇḍanāya vā* ।
*kukavitvaṁ tu punaḥ sākṣān mṛtim āhurmanīṣiṇaḥ* ॥
"To miss the poetic "mark" is just a lack in (physical, mental, social) health; naught more.
But to have taste's ah, unpoetic worse:
'tis deardly, death itself, an irrevocable sore".

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