pra'crit poetry. 435 



from the crescent on the head of Siva, who seems fixed in 

 the grove without." 6 and 7. 



The Sicharmi, also a common metre, distributes 

 seventeen syllables into ])ortions of six and eleven ; 

 an iambic and two spondees in the one, and a tribra- 

 chys, anap^st, dactyl, and iambic in the other. This 

 is the metre of the Ananda lahaai^ a hymn of which 

 Sancara'cha'rya is tlie reputed author, and which 

 is addressed to S'iva', the Sacttox energy of Siva or 

 Maha'de'va. It comprises a hundred stanzas of or- 

 thodox poetry held in great estimation by the devout 

 followers of Sancara : the devotional poetry of the 

 Hindus does not ufually employ metre of so high an 

 order. 



Examples of this measure will be shown in a sub- 

 sequent extract from a work of a very different kind: 

 a drama, by Bhavarhu'ti entitled Mala n Mad" hava. 



The Mdlini, consisting of fifteen syllables, places 

 two tribrachys and a spondee in the one subdivided 

 portion of the verse, and a cretic, trochee, and spondee 

 in the other. An instance of it occurs in a former ex- 

 tract from the Ctrdtdrjum'iya. The following example 

 of this metre is from the drama abovementioned. The 

 passage is descriptive of a love-sick maid, 



Mdlmi metre. 

 [See Plate C. Fig. 3 'J 



Parimridita-mnn'ali-mlanam angam ; prarittih 

 Cat'ham api parivara-prart 'hanabhih criyasu. 

 Calayati cha himans or nishcalancasya lacshnjinni 

 Abhinava-cari-danta-chch'heda-canlah capolah. 



^ Her person is weary like bruised threads of a lotos ; scarcely 

 can the earnest intreaiies of her attendants incite her to any 

 exertion J her cheek, pale as new wrought Ivory, emulates 

 the beauty of a spotless moon.' 1. 22. 



F f 2 



