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435 A short poem on the seasons is also ascribed to KAli- dasa. Bharavi who was a contemporary or a successor of KaiidcLsa is by a long way inferior to him in all the quali- ties which make a great and a true poet. In the rich- ness of a creative fancy, in true tenderness and pathos, and even in the sweetness and melody of verse, Kalid&sa is incomparably a greater poet. But nevertheless Bh&ravi boasts of a vigour of thought and of language, a spirited and lofty eloquence in expression, which KSlid&sa seldom equals. Only one Mahakavya, the Kir&tdrjuniam of Bharavi has been left to us, and it is one of the most vigorous and spirited poems in the Sanscrit language. The story is taken from the Mahabharata. Yudhis- thira is in exile, and his spirited wife Draupadi urges him to break the treaty with his cousins and to win back his kingdom. With the burning eloquence of a proud and a wronged woman she points out to him that peace and submission ill become a Kshatriya ; that faith is not to be kept with the faithless ; that kingdoms and glory are not won by meekness and resignation. Cast off thy sloth, assume thy native power, And, manlike, deal destruction to thy foe ! Not kings, but hermits seek seclusion's bower, Forget their wrongs, and meekly bend in woe. If mighty men, whose treasure is their fame, Like thee consent their manhood to degrade, Then woe to warrior's pride and warrior's name, And honour, courage, chivalry be dead ! Digitized by Google 436 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. But vain these words ! If spoilt of thy great name, Thou seek'st in holy peace to sink thy ire, Forego these arms,— that bow of royal fame, Go plait thy locks,— like hermits worship fire ! From an unpublished translation by the present writer. Yudhisthira's spirited brother Bhima supports Drau- padi ; but Yudhisthira is not to be moved from his plighted word, and recommends resignation. In the meantime Vydsa, the mythical compiler of the Vedas, comes to see the king in his exile, and advises Arjuna to seek by penance celestial arms, with which he will be able to conquer his foes in the hour of battle. Arjuna accordingly takes leave of his brothers, and Draupadi of course urges him on to the task with her persuasive eloquence. The hero retires into the solitudes of the Himalaya mountains to perform his penances. No part of the poem brings out Bh&ravi's merits as a poet to greater advantage than the account of Arjuna's . penances in this wild solitude. His innate pride and worth are admirably contrasted with his present voca- tion ; and the influence of his presence is felt by the animate and inanimate creatures of the peaceful hermitage. Indra's messenger sees this strange hermit and reports to tbe god accordingly. Like a strange luminary of the sky, Though clad in humble barks, on yonder hill, A holy man, intent on purpose high, Doth penances ! And earth it hushed and still ! Digitized by Google CHAP. XII.] POETRY. 437 In his great arms, whose muscles snake-Ike coil, He holds a mighty awe-inspiring bow ; But gentle are his deeds, devout his toil, No gentler, holier hermit lives below ! Soft the zephyr blows, the sward is green, The sky is blue, and rains the dust allay. By worth subdued, the elements I ween In one accord to him obeisance pay ! The forest beasts their mutual strife forget, And humbly listen to his beck and word ; For him the bending trees with blossoms wait, The mighty mountains own him as their lord ! His ceaseless toil bespeaks a purpose high, His mighty mein denotes success is near. A gentle hermit ! — But his radiant eye Instils a sense "of awe and secret fear ! If from holy saints he is descended, From Daityas sprung, or from some kingly line, I know not lord ! Nor why to woods hath wended, For penance hard and ceaseless rites divine. Unpublished translation. Indra is pleased with the message, for Arjuna is his son, and Indra wishes him success. But nevertheless he is resolved to try the mortal as he tries all anchorites, and sends celestial nymphs to lure the hero from his austere rites. Our author launches into a descrip- tion of these lovely nymphs in two cantos, describ- ing how they gather flowers and plunge into a rivfer, 43§ PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. and appear with renovated beauty before the solitary anchorite. Pale with rites prescribed of old, In arms accoutred, calm and bold, Like Veda, — peaceful, glorious, great,— Arjuna's self at last they met. Resplendent in a robe of light, Like the beauteous lord of night, Alone, upon a hill he stood, And seemed of all the woods the god ! Pale with penances, — but great, Unapproachable !— though all sedate., Alone— but stiong as hosts in fight, A saint,— but weilding Indra's might ! Unpublished translation. Such was the hero whom the nymphs meet, and such was the saint whom they vainly try to tempt. The celestial beauties retire, somewhat humbled, and then Indra himself comes in the guise of an old anchorite to dissuade Arjuna from his penances ; even as Kdlidasa's Siva comes in disguise to dissuade Um& from her love of that deity. The mutability of worldly grandeur, the folly of seeking power and fame, the wisdom of seeking true virtue and salvation, — all these are pleaded by the disguised god with convincing eloquence ; but Arjuna remains unconvinced and unshaken in his purpose. Father ! thy advice is right, But alas it suits not me, As the starry sky of night Doth not suit the light of day. * • * • Digitized by Google CHAP. XII.] POETRY. For I seek to wash our stain, — Stain for which this heart hath bled,— With the tear drops for the slain By their sorrowing widows shed ! If the hope on which I've rested Be unreal, idle, vain, Be it so ;— thy words are wasted ! Pardon, if I cause thee pain. Till I conquer, crash my foe, Win again our long-lost fame, Salvation's self to me were woe, — Hindrance to my lofty aim 1 Unpublished translation. Indra is not ill pleased with this unshaken determi- nation which yields neither to temptation nor to reason ; and the god discloses himself and points out to the hero the way to win the celestial arras he seeks, by the wor- ship of Siva, who alone can bestow them. Once more Arjuna engages in penances and severe austerities, until the fame of his rigid piety is carried to Siva himself. Siva now comes to meet the pious Kshatriya, — not in the guise of an old man to dissuade him from his religious performances, — but as a warrior wishing to try a warrior's steel. He assumes the guise of a Kirata or wild hunter, and a mighty boar which came to attack Arjuna is slain. Both Arjuna and the disguised god claim the merit of having slain the animal, and thus a quarrel is picked up which leads to a fight which our author describes in no less than six cantos. Digitized by Google 440 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. The battle, though full of the most striking and spirited passages, is nevertheless described in the extra- vagant style common to Hindu poets. Arms of snakes, arms of fire, and arms of clouds and rain are discharged until the firmament is filled with hissing serpents, roaring flames, or copious torrents of ram ! But all these miraculous weapons are of little avail to Arjuna, to the hero's great astonishment the wild hunter replies to every weapon with a mightier one, and is more than a match for the most skilled warrior of the period ! Astonished at the hunter's mighty skill Arjuna paused in meditation still, And in his heart which never quaked mid*t foes, Doubts and misgivings, such as these, arose. Warriors have I seen of matchless power, Armies in great contests darkening lower, And beaten all ! Why fail befoie this swain? Why fails the sun before the paler moon ? Is this all magic ? Is it all a dream ? Gone is my might ? Or am I still the same ? Why triumphs not my never failing steel, Above this hunter's all untutored skill ? Rending the boundless sky as if in twain, Sounding his bow, and shaking earth and main, He fights. Is he a simple mountaineer ! By deeds a man disguised is shewn all clear. Such wondrous aim on foe to send his dart, To shield himself such never failing art, Not Bhtshma's self nor Drona proud doth own ! How can a swain possess such skill alone ? UnpublisJud translation. Digitized by Google CHAP. XII.] POETRY. 44* At length, deprived of all arms, Arjuna springs on his invincible foe to wrestle him down. The wrestling goes on long, and Siva, no mean wrestler, springs into the air to attack Arjuna, and the latter holds him by the feet to pull him down. This appeal the mighty god cannot withstand ; a faithful worshipper holds him by the feet, Siva reveals himself, and blesses the saintly warrior, and bestows on him the coveted arms by which he is to win back his kingdom and his fame. Such is the celebrated poem of Bh£ravi which does not boast of any interesting plot or any striking crea- tions of fancy, but which is characterized by a force and vigour of sentiment and expression which have given the poem a place among the unperishable works of the ancient Hindus. Coming now to the seventh century A.D., we know on the authority of the Chinese traveller I-tsing that the poet Bhartrihari graced the age of Siliditya II. BhartriharFs Satakas show that he was a Hindu, but they are nevertheless marked by the Buddhist spirit of the time in which he lived.