338 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. (June, 1908. 
There he says aamraetarary a ab a aqadt efaatw —May the 
Lord remove those propensities in you that are caused by ignorance 
so that you may discern the course followed by the wise (or “iveeh 
the righteous course), This seems to be a pretty broad reference 
to Buddhism under the influence of which people, at the time of 
the poet, adopted an evil course (aT#at efa) and began to ridicule 
the ways of the wise (gta). Even the lowest stratum of society ‘ 
must have been convulsed, or the simple fisherman would not have 
said it with warmth to the face of the head of the city police— 
avs faa aq fafafed a fe aq wa faasatag | 
ci? 28 oe] RAST RU tSz Rade BY zeufa sifaa: i] 

am not going to give up my profession because of your” 
ridicule. I kill fish no doubt, but that does not show that I am 
heartless. Why, the Brahman kills animals at sacrifices. Yet 
how kindly pred sen he is. Who ever thinks he is cruel ? 
The poe exposes his aching heart. The Sakuntalam, 
as I shall one: in opm Le is the protest of injured 
Brahmanism against aggressive i 
IT not clear whether Kalidasa wanted to be offensive while 
e towards Buddhist feelings. He begins with the killing of an 
pete not killing at a sacrifice, which too the Buddhists condemn ; 
nor ie killing for food which, though extremely bad, has a sort 
of excuse, however lame it may be; but out killing —killing 
for psariee, for killing’s sake. Nay, he makes his hero minutely 
describe the distress of the victim with evident relish :— 
malaga qecguata wet zugts: 
qarea wfae: HEATH ZAR WaRaz | 
aliztatie: saeaquefati: Silat 
qatzagaattesta asat wtaqai sata | 
Referring to the line yanat yatafeare oifwa: — Let the king 
work for the good of the people—I may say it would obviously 
sound ridienlaus at the time of Rama, or Yudhisthira, or any other 
good king. I believe when the poet said so he had in his mind 
instances of kings who did not work for the good of the people. 
He says Feara not tqyaTa. We know the poet holds the view that 
a king is a king because he pleases the people—* ‘wer Tea es: 
qui— saat cs vata tHa is the nature of 
. Just as the WR ceases to be FR by not a ddeuiie the 
heart of men, the ay@ (sun) is no longer ayq@ if he does not heat : 
so the tat is not TsHt without tqW4a | When such a person omits 
79 
= SRL Rn eae 
| 
7 

