4 KĀLIDĀSA'S STYLE AND METRE IOI 9. Kalidasa's Style and Metre. In Kālidāsa we have unquestionably the finest master of Indian poetic style, superior to Açvaghoṣa by the perfection and polish of his work, and all but completely free from the extrava- gances which disfigure the later great writers of Kavya. Dandin ascribes to his favourite style, the Vaidarbha, qualities which we may fairly sum up as firmness and evenness of sound, avoiding harsh transitions and preferring gentle harmonies; the use of words in their ordinary sense and clearness of meaning; the power to convey sentiment; beauty, elevation, and the employ- ment of metaphorical expressions. He assures longevity to a poem which, in addition to conforming to the rules for a Mahākāvya, is rich in ornaments (alaṁkāra), and Kālidāsa is not sparing in his use of these means of adding grace to his work. But he has the fundamental merit that he prefers suggestion to elaboration; his successors too often thought that they could only prove their capacity by showing all of what it was capable; he was content to produce a definite effect, and to leave well alone; his was the golden mean of Virgil between rustic simpli- city and clumsiness and that over-refinement which is specially fatal. Thus it results that his miniature-painting in its polished elegance often attains relative perfection. The truth of his delineation is seen in the picture of the sorrowing bride in the Meghadüta: utsange vã malinavasane saumya nikṣipya viņām madgotränkaṁ viracitapadaṁ geyam udgātukāmā 1 The critics occasionally find fault, e.g. in the Vyaktiviveka (p. 66) Raghu- vança xvi. 33 is censured for the position of taliye, but they cite him repeatedly as a master, first of Mahakavis; Dhvanyaloka, pp. 29, 207; Kavyaprakāça, p. 2. Bhamaha's assertion that a cloud is not suitable as a messenger must refer to the Meghaduta and may be put beside his attack on Bhāsa's Pratijñāyaugandharayana, proved by T. Ganapatı Sāstrī, çf. Thomas, JRAS. 1925, p 103, who (pp 100 ff.) deals effectively with the attacks on the authenticity of Bhasa's dramas. His verse (Subhāṣitāvali, 1353) is imitated in Ragh viii. 66; GIL. in 159, n. 1. 2 His improvements on Açvaghoșa are numerous and undeniable; cf. the passages in Nandargıkai, Raghuvança (ed. 3), pp. 161 ff.; Formichi, Alvaghosa, p. 350; cf. also Saund. v. 43 with Kum v. 45. The parallel Kum. vii. 56 ff. ; Ragh. vii. 5 ff. with Buddh. in. 13 ff. is conclusive and Hillebrandt's doubts (pp. 103 f.) are hyper- critical.
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