2023-03-26 16:29:38 by ambuda-bot
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ix
metres, as there is no difference in the two kinds of
metres except that in one the first syllable is long and
in the other it is short. The reader has to plod on
through one hundred and four stanzas before he can
escape from this monotony, through the intervention of
a Sardūlavikrīdita metre, this change in metre being
introduced to denote the end of the canto. After this
short relief for a moment, the reader is again faced
with the monotony of the Vamsastha metre, a mètre
not much different from the metre of the first canto.
The Vamsastha metre may be represented as:
It will be noted that this is only the Upendravajra,
with a short syllable inserted between the two closing
long syllables. In the second canto there is not even
the occasional shift from one metre into another. The
reader gets a relief only after seventy-two stanzas, the
seventy-third being in the Natkūṭaka metre, to denote
the close of the canto. To add to this monotony,
there is absolutely no movement in the narration of
the epic. The whole narrative portion in the first
two cantos could be stated in three sentences. The
author begins the actual story of the epic only in the
fifty-fourth stanza. The first fifty-three stanzas are
taken up with salutations to guardian deities, with
adorations to the poet's forefathers, with homage paid
to earlier poets and with a description of the king
under whose patronage he wrote the epic. Even in
the fifty-fourth stanza, the reader can take a breath of
B
metres, as there is no difference in the two kinds of
metres except that in one the first syllable is long and
in the other it is short. The reader has to plod on
through one hundred and four stanzas before he can
escape from this monotony, through the intervention of
a Sardūlavikrīdita metre, this change in metre being
introduced to denote the end of the canto. After this
short relief for a moment, the reader is again faced
with the monotony of the Vamsastha metre, a mètre
not much different from the metre of the first canto.
The Vamsastha metre may be represented as:
It will be noted that this is only the Upendravajra,
with a short syllable inserted between the two closing
long syllables. In the second canto there is not even
the occasional shift from one metre into another. The
reader gets a relief only after seventy-two stanzas, the
seventy-third being in the Natkūṭaka metre, to denote
the close of the canto. To add to this monotony,
there is absolutely no movement in the narration of
the epic. The whole narrative portion in the first
two cantos could be stated in three sentences. The
author begins the actual story of the epic only in the
fifty-fourth stanza. The first fifty-three stanzas are
taken up with salutations to guardian deities, with
adorations to the poet's forefathers, with homage paid
to earlier poets and with a description of the king
under whose patronage he wrote the epic. Even in
the fifty-fourth stanza, the reader can take a breath of
B