404 COSMOS. 



schools constitute one of the most remarkable phenomena of 

 Indian life, and must have exercised a special influence on the 

 mental development of the whole race?" 



In referring here, as I did in my public lectures, under the 

 guidance of my brother and other learned Sanscrit scholars, to 

 individual instances of that animated and frequently expressed 

 feeling for nature, which breathes through the descriptive 

 portions of Indian poetry, I would begin with the Vedas, the 

 most ancient and most valuable memorials of the civilisation o* 

 the East Arian nations. The main subject of these writings is 

 the veneration and praise of nature. The hymns of the Rig- 

 Veda contain the most charming descriptions of the " roseate 

 hue of early dawn," and of the aspect of the " golden-handed 

 Bun." The great heroic poems of Ramayana and Mahabharata 

 are of more recent date than the Vedas, but more ancient than 

 the Puranas ; the adoration of nature being associated with the 

 narrative in accordance with the character of epic creations. 

 In the Vedas, the locality of the scenes which had been glori- 

 fied by holy beings was seldom indicated, but in the heroic 

 poems the descriptions of nature are mostly individual, and 

 refer to definite localities, from whence they derive that 

 animation and life which is ever imparted when the writer 

 draws his materials from the impressions he has himself 

 experienced. There is a rich tone of colouring throughout 

 the description of the journey of Rama from Ayodhya to the 

 residence of Dschanaka, in his life in the primitive forest, and 

 in the picture of the anchorite life of the Panduides. 



The name of Kalidasa was early and widely known amongst 

 the western nations. This great poet flourished in the highly 

 cultivated court of Vikramaditya, and was consequently the 

 contemporary of Virgil and Horace. The English and German 

 translations of the Sacontala have added to the admiration 

 which has been so freely yielded to this poet,* whose tender- 



(Compare Gervinus, bd. i. s. 282, and Massmann's DenTcmaler, bd. i. & 

 16.) These are the same as the maidens of Edrisi's eastern magic 

 island of Vacvac, called in the Latin version of the Masudi Chothbeddin, 

 puellas vasvakienses (Humboldt, Examen crit. de la Geographic, t. L 

 p. 53.) 



* Kalidasa lived at the court of Vikramaditya, about fifty-six years 

 before our era. It is highly probable that the age of the two great 

 heroic poems, Ramayana and Mahabharata, is much more ancient than 



