rN 



356 



Prannath Pandit— Morals of Kalidasa. 



[No. 3, 





The sexual appetite.— Kalidasa subordinated the strongest animal 

 appetite to the religious duty of procreating progeny. The princes of 

 the solar race, and JDiUpa in particular, marry but to have progeny.* The 

 untimely death of Agmvarnaf points the moral of a course of abandoned 

 licentiousness to which many an Indian prince has fallen a victim. DasJia- 

 ratha had sufficient strength of mind, to withstand such allurements. No 

 passion for the chase, no fondness for dice, nor moon-begemmed goblets, 

 nor the charms of maidens in the bloom of youth, could allure him from 

 the paths of ambition. % 



Temper.— Kalidasa' s sages have sufficient control over their temper, to 

 modify the effects of their curses, when the impertinent victims of rage, 

 too often mere instruments in the hands of their masters, craved for 

 mercy, § as Priyamvadd remarks, water is naturally cold, it is but the 

 communicated heat of fire that makes it momentarily warm.|| 



The most remarkable case of self-control, however, is to be found 

 in the beginning of the Baghuvansa, and fully to appreciate it, a little 

 detail is necessary. Dilipa, king of men, blessing and blessed in his 

 loyal and contented subjects, at peace with his vanquished foes, and ruling 

 the earth — 



Like one vast city girdled by the sea,^f 

 is sad at heart since his lovely queen has borne him no son. He 

 feels most keenly that the load of debt which he owes to his ancestors, 

 remains yet undischarged. The idea is painful that after him there 

 will be none to present the ancestral oblations, none to continue the 

 lineage. He repairs with his consort to his family-preceptor, the sage 

 VashishttJia, who by holy meditation arrives at the cause of the king's 

 misfortune. At a "thoughtless moment", he had omitted to pay due 

 respect to the divine cow SurabM, and had been punished in the very 

 object that had caused the fatal omission. As an atonement, he is 

 directed to propitiate her daughter, Nandini, by tending her most 

 faithfully through thick and through thin. For three weeks he plied 

 this arduous task, sitting when she stopped, rising when she moved, desir- 

 ing water only when she had allayed her thirst — pursuing her as her 

 shadow. The next day when he had followed her to fresh fields and 



* ysm 3Z^fa-TT« I Eaghu., 1. 7. ^f^W^J W*T3 I Raghu., t. 25. 



t Eaghu., XIX. 48—54. 



t Raglm., IX. 7. 



§ Eaghu., V. 53. 54. VIII. 79, 80, 81. 



II ^S^W^Trrq^^JlTfT^csi f% 3f«r ^[ STUf^^T II Kaghu., V. 54. 



IT Griffith. 



