NATURAL DESCRIPTIONS BY THE INDIANS. 53 



bine a spiritualized adoration of nature with the dualistic be 

 lief in Ahrimanes and Ormuzd. What we usually term Per 



roic deeds 'the rich pictures of a luxuriant nature. (Ramayana, ed 

 Schlegel, lib. i., cap. 26, v. 13-15; lib. ii., cap. 56, v. 6-11: compare 

 Nalus, ed. Bopp, 1832, Ges., xii., v. 1-10.) Another point in which 

 the second epoch differs from that of the Vedas in regard to the feeling 

 for external nature is in the greater richness of the subject treated of, 

 which is not, like the first, limited to the phenomena of the heavenly 

 powers, but comprehends the whole of nature the heavens and the 

 earth, with the world of plants and of animals, in all its luxuriance and 

 variety, and in its influence on the mind of men. In the third epoch 

 of the poetic literature of India, if we except the Puranat, which have 

 the particular object of developing the religious principle in the minds 

 of the different sects, external nature exercises undivided sway, but the 

 descriptive portion of the poems is based on scientific and local observ- 

 ation. By way of specifying some of the great poems belonging to this 

 epoch, we will mention the Bhatti-kdvya (or Bhatti's poem), which, 

 like the Ramayana, has for its subject the exploits and adventures of 

 Rama, and in whicli there occur successively several admirable descrip- 

 tions of a forest life during a term of banishment, of the sea and of its 

 beautiful shores, and of the breaking of the day in Ceylon (Lanka). 

 (Bhatti-kdvya, ed. Calc., Part i., canto vii., p. 432; canto x., p. 715; 

 canto xi., p. 814. Compare, also. Funf Gesdnge des Bhatti-kdvya, 1837, 

 s. 1-18, by Professor Schiitz of Bielefeld; the agreeable description of 

 the different periods of the day in Magha's Sisnpalabdha, and the Nais- 

 chada-tscharita of Sri Harscha, where, however, in the story of Nalus 

 and Damayanti, the expression of the feeling for external nature passes 

 into a vague exaggeration. This extravagance contrasts with the noble 

 simplicity of the Ramayana, as, for instance, where Visvamitra is de- 

 scribed as leading his pupil to the shores of the Sona. (Sisnpaladha, 

 ed. Calc., p. 298 and 372. Compare Schiitz, op. cit., s. 25-28; Nais- 

 chada-tscharita, ed. Calc., Part i., v. 77-129 ; and Ramayana, ed. Schle- 

 gel, lib. i., cap. 35, v. 15-18.) Kalidasa, the celebrated author of Sa- 

 kuntala, has a masterly manner of representing the influence which the 

 aspect of nature exercises on the minds and feelings of lovers. The 

 forest scene which he has portrayed in the drama of Vikrama and Ur- 

 vasi may rank among the finest poetic creations of any period. ( Vi- 

 kramorvasi, ed. Calc., 1830, p. 71; see the translation in Wilson's Se- 

 lect Specimens of the Theater of the Hindus, Calc., 1827, vol. ii., p. 63.) 

 Particular reference should be made in the poem of The Seasons to the 

 passages referring to the rainy season and to spring. (Ritusanhdra, ed. 

 Bohlen, 1840, p. 11-18 and 37-45, and s. 80-88, 107-114 of Bohlen's 

 translation.) In the Messenger of Clouds, likewise the work of Kali- 

 dasa, the influence, of external nature on the feelings of men is also the 

 leading subject of the composilion. This poem (the Meghaduta, or 

 Messenger of Clouds, which has been edited by Gildemeister and Wil- 

 son, and translated both by Wilson and by Chezy) describes the grief of 

 an exile on the mountain Ramagiri. In his longing for the presence of 

 his beloved, from whom he is separated, he entreats a passing cloud 

 to convey to her tidings of his sorrows, and describes to the cloud the 

 path which it must pursue, depicting the landscape as it would be re- 

 flected in a mind agitated with deep emotion. Among the treasures 

 which the Indian poetry of the third period owes to the influence of 

 nature on the national mind, the highest praise must be awarded to the 



