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xvil
aptness in which the Dikshita is rarely excelled by any other poet,
ancient or modern, to the hearing of the poet's authentic voice
when the clamour of the logicians is stilled (IV-30). The verges
which describe Brhaspati's diplomacy are extraordinarily convin-
cing, being based on the bed-rock of truth.
The verses that sing the glory of the Supreme in Its
different personal manifestations have a sustained sublimity,
which it is hardly necessary to describe at length to the
rasika-devotee; see particularly II-35, III-47, 49, and IV
23-6. But one might usefully draw attention to the pretty
utprekshas, which are not less characteristic of one who was a
connoisseur of Chamatkāra; see I-16 and III-52. He is, too, a
great master of auchitya; see how beautifully appropriate are
the words, expressive at oace of humility and wisdom, that he
puts into the mouth of Väsuki (p. 26). Very rarely does our poet
exhibit faulty taste; though he comes perilously close to it in
the ingenious but prosaic suggestion (in a prose passage, it is true)
that the green scum floating in the ocean of milk looked like pre-
servatives put in by Brahmā providently against the milk turning
sour (p. 146), and the rather banal observation (ii-9) that
the arts and graces of the apsarases were wasted on the 'Veda-
bhyasa-jada' world of Brahmā.
Finally, reference should be made to the racy tang imparted
to the Dikshita's idiom by his skilful and natural acclimatisation
of Tamil proverbs and usages in the less exalted ranges of the
creative fancy; see p. 1023, 138 (16), 216(33) and 233. The
poet's metrical virtuosity is well attested by many verses of
intricate pattern and haunting melody.
Very little is known of the commentator Vellala Bharadwaja
Mahadeva Sūri. He was a master of Vyakaraṇa, and for almost
every word he gives the meaning by exhaustive quotation from
the Amara and other lexica. His work is therefore ideally suited
for the beginner in Sanskrit. Mahadeva was apparently a great
Siva Bhakta. His knowledge of the Siva Agamas is extensive and
profound. But the gaps in his erudition are equally notable. He
is apparently unfamiliar with the Ramayana; he quotes Bhoja
for authority on Balã' and 'Atibala', instead of giving the epic
reference. The story of Garuda's slaying of the elephant and the
tortoise and his rescue of the Valakhilyas is narrated in a long
sarga of the Aranya Kanda, but our commentator evidently
III
aptness in which the Dikshita is rarely excelled by any other poet,
ancient or modern, to the hearing of the poet's authentic voice
when the clamour of the logicians is stilled (IV-30). The verges
which describe Brhaspati's diplomacy are extraordinarily convin-
cing, being based on the bed-rock of truth.
The verses that sing the glory of the Supreme in Its
different personal manifestations have a sustained sublimity,
which it is hardly necessary to describe at length to the
rasika-devotee; see particularly II-35, III-47, 49, and IV
23-6. But one might usefully draw attention to the pretty
utprekshas, which are not less characteristic of one who was a
connoisseur of Chamatkāra; see I-16 and III-52. He is, too, a
great master of auchitya; see how beautifully appropriate are
the words, expressive at oace of humility and wisdom, that he
puts into the mouth of Väsuki (p. 26). Very rarely does our poet
exhibit faulty taste; though he comes perilously close to it in
the ingenious but prosaic suggestion (in a prose passage, it is true)
that the green scum floating in the ocean of milk looked like pre-
servatives put in by Brahmā providently against the milk turning
sour (p. 146), and the rather banal observation (ii-9) that
the arts and graces of the apsarases were wasted on the 'Veda-
bhyasa-jada' world of Brahmā.
Finally, reference should be made to the racy tang imparted
to the Dikshita's idiom by his skilful and natural acclimatisation
of Tamil proverbs and usages in the less exalted ranges of the
creative fancy; see p. 1023, 138 (16), 216(33) and 233. The
poet's metrical virtuosity is well attested by many verses of
intricate pattern and haunting melody.
Very little is known of the commentator Vellala Bharadwaja
Mahadeva Sūri. He was a master of Vyakaraṇa, and for almost
every word he gives the meaning by exhaustive quotation from
the Amara and other lexica. His work is therefore ideally suited
for the beginner in Sanskrit. Mahadeva was apparently a great
Siva Bhakta. His knowledge of the Siva Agamas is extensive and
profound. But the gaps in his erudition are equally notable. He
is apparently unfamiliar with the Ramayana; he quotes Bhoja
for authority on Balã' and 'Atibala', instead of giving the epic
reference. The story of Garuda's slaying of the elephant and the
tortoise and his rescue of the Valakhilyas is narrated in a long
sarga of the Aranya Kanda, but our commentator evidently
III