A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s6.86

v3.c35.s6.86

In the Aihoḷe inscription (634 A. D.) of Pulakeśin II beside Kālidāsa is mentioned Bhāravi as a renowned poet. [As regards his age all that is known is that he must be placed much earlier than 634 A.D.] In Indian manuals of poetics he is always included among the greatest poets. His epic Kirātārjunīya¹, according to the unanimous verdict of the Indians, belongs to the best type of classical poetry. The theme of the 18 cantos of the epic consists of the story of the battle of the hero Arjuna with the god Śiva, who assumed the form of a Kirāta². But the narration is not of any importance whatsoever. The real importance of the poem lies in interlaced descriptions, magnificent metaphors and similes and mastery in handling of the language, that reaches its highest point notably in canto XV. Here we find, e.g. verses in which only particular consonants occur (thus XV, 5 only *s*, *y*, *l* and *ś* or XV, 16, in which there is no consonant other than *n*), verses of which the two hemistichs have the same reading, but they give different meanings; then there are stanzas, in which each foot reads similarly, whether read from the beginning to the end or from the end to the beginning. Although these verbal gymnastics, like the devices of an acrobat, can no more inspire in us a feeling of admiration, we come across many splendid sketches in the description of nature that exhibit the genious of a true poet. For example we may refer to the beautiful description of the autumn in canto IV³, to the lovely bathing scene in canto VIII⁴ and to the description of the setting of the sun and of the advent of the night in canto IX. Here we find beautiful pictures, when for example, the poet says:—