pra'crit poetry. 409 



upa'la, impatient of tiie discomfiture of his troops 

 and of those of his aUies, dares Crishn'a to single 

 combat. 



AupacJihandunca. 

 [See Plate A. Fig. 6.] 



JVfuc'Iiam uUasita tri-rec'ham uchchair bhidura-bhru-yuga- 



bhishan'au dad'hanah, 

 Samiiav iti vicraman amrishyan, gatabhir, aliwata Chedirat 



Murarim. 



' Raising bis head, and with a countenance terrible by its 

 forked brow and wrinkled Torehead, the king of the CbediSf 

 impatient of the prowess thus displayed in battle, banished 

 fear^ and challenged the foe of Mura to the fight.* 20. 1. 



A further example of the same metre is the second 

 stanza of the following extract from the Cha tajun'iya^ 

 of iiHA''RAvi. The remaining stanzas exhibit va- 

 riety of measure, with two instances of singular 

 alliteration. 



The subject of that celebrated poem is Arjuna's 

 obtaining celestial arms from S'iva, Indka and the 

 rest of the gods, to be employed against Duryo'd'- 

 hanA. It is by a rigid observance of severe austeri- 

 ties in the first instance, and afterwards by his prowess 

 in a conflict with S^iva tin the disguise of a moun- 

 taineer), that Arjuna prevails. Ihis is the whole 

 subject of the poem ; which is ranked with the Cumarg, 

 and Raghu of Ca'lida'sa, the Naishad'hiya of Sri- 

 harsha, and IMa^gha's epick poem, among the six 

 excellent compositions in Sanscrit. The sixth is the 

 Meghadula also ascribed to Ca^ltd'asa; and, on ac ■ 



* Arjuna and the mountaineer. Cirata is the name of a tribe 

 of mountaineers considered us barbarians. 



