336 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. | June, 1908. 
principle aa fayazafe faqert Kalidasa here exercises rights 
of which utfafa has deprived wtfaa writers. 
Hence at the time of the poet the form of the language, 7.e., 
of ¥Tat as distinguished from @@¥, was not yet cast in the un- 
alterable mould forged by Panini. When an gy4a precedes a root, 
we say, after yifafa, that itis placed before the root ; “@ ITAINTAT” 
are Panini’s words, But Kalidasa says it is after the root (cf. 
“Tereyaayg yraitiyf<araag” quoted above). Indeed, the great 
grammarian did not at all influence the poet. We say then that 
Kalidasa is a writer of the period of transition from the Vedic 
literature (@7<4_) to the Sanskrit literature (wrt). Thus though 
Kalidasa writes in wrut, his wrt has points of resemblance with 
eH | 
I note here a few more points of resemblance. The q& 
preceding wWra@ is absent in Se tne a 
takes the @fea affix fe in “qureré gtryra,” “ 
etc. @Syis absent in “GQaTIqyaTeE | GI is med in ‘the 
feminine in “‘gqgcrrat @arvet’ | Vaidika metre is used in the 
verse— 
wat af ofa: qatar: afher: orieeatacat: | 
qunat cfed saaayaaiatea axa: uaa | 
If we suppose that Panini flourished about 300 B.C., and that 
it took about 200 years for his system to establish a ‘dominant 
influence over the language, we are brought to a period covering 
the Ist and 2nd centuries B.C. which may ‘be taken as the period 
of transition at which ¥T¥T may be expected to bear such a resem- 
blance to gq! Hence Kalidasa probably lived some time in the 
1st and 2nd centuries B.C. 
EVIDENCE OF THE SAKUNTALAM,. 
The Sakuntalam ends with a prayer. The poet first prays for 
princes 9awat watafeara aifwa:—Let rulers work for the good of 
the people. We note that he does not say yafatgara, to please the 
people, but yafafeara—for the good-of the people. His prayer is: 
May kings in their undertakings consider if good will result to 
the people. Next comes the prayer for the people — 4 
: Let the declarations of those that are learned in the 
Vedas cain respect, @e, May people have implicit faith in what 
learned Brahmanas declare. Last is the prayer for self—warty, 

