1833.] A Legend of Himalaya—by Caliddsa. 351 
22. 
Of her, then immers’d in devotion’s thoughts deep, 
Begot by the monarch of ev’ry high steep,— 
Did Stva’s lost love once again upon earth 
Derive from new parents a fortunate birth. 
Ev’n thus, in the womb of Morality pure, 
’*Midst earth’s turbid toil still unshaken and sure, 
By strong Perseverance’s virtue, I wot, 
The infant Prosperity’s ever begot. 
23. 
For blest was that birth-day,—its sky beaming fair ; 
No cloud of earth’s dust ever soil’d its pure air : 
Loud conchs’ swelling blast, follow’d close by sweet flowers 
Rain’d down from glad skies, usher’d in its gay hours : 
And moving or fix’d, ev’ry bodily thing 
Partook the loud joy of the great mountain-king. 
ee ET A 
St. 22. Thecomparison of sensible to intellectual objects, though very rarely (and 
as some opponents of the Ossianic poems contend, never) occurring in the poetry 
of the rude and heroic ages of the world, is not uncommon in that of a more cul- 
tivated and reflecting state of society ; and in a people so metaphysical in the cast of 
their minds as the Hinda@s might be expected more frequently than in others, 
A very curious instance of this inverted species of simile occurs in our author’s 
Raghu-vansa, Canto xiii. St. 60—where the subject matter of comparison is the 
plucking of the lotus flowers from the parent lake of the Sarya river by the hands 
of the female Yaxa deities (resembling what was described in St. 16 of this book) 
—and where this sensible object is illustrated by one which can only be under- 
stood by those who have entered into the intricacies of the Sankhya metaphysical 
philosophy. The latter half of this stanza is another remarkable instance of the 
same kind of comparison, as it is also of Indian allegory. Nuri (fem.) or morality, 
might more exactly, as to etymology, and almost equally well as to meaning, be 
rendered conduct. Ursdéua (masc.), which in the original as well as in the trans- 
lation, is linked with the word guna, quality or virtue,—means strenuous and per- 
severing exertion. SAMPaAT (fem.) is wealth, affluence or prosperity. 
St. 23. The falling of a shower of flowers from heaven is a token of the pleasure 
and approbation of the celestial gods. Thus, in the Raghu-vansa of our author, 
II. 60, when the pious king Dilipa offered to devote his own life instead of that of 
the cow Nandini to Siva’s lion before mentioned that guarded the sacred cedar of 
P4rvati,—and his offer was accepted by the hungry wild beast,—his deliverance 
from expected death, and the breaking of the spell by the immortals that applauded 
his fidelity, was preceded by that sign. 
afaeau wreafey: TaTaTa GATSHAAMNTL Fares: 
sama: fief | quia frgraceaea |! 
