1876.] 



Prannath Pandit— Morals of Kdliddsa. 



363 



Sustain the honor of your lineage and he still obedient to thy sire are the 

 exhortations which Pururavd and VrmsM respectively address to their son* 



Fraternal duties.-We may here properly enter into the consideration 

 of the fraternal relation. It has been aptly remarked that brotherly love is 

 the best preparation for society. The sons of Basaratha never quarrelled 

 among themselves, even in their infancy.f The devotedness of LaTcshmana 

 who voluntarily followed Rama into exile, % and at last laid down his life for 

 the sake of his brother § will not easily find a parallel in the whole history 

 of literature. Bharata's behaviour, too, in strenuously declining the 

 throne, stands out in bright contrast to the treachery of KaiMyi. He can 

 only be persuaded to guard the throne as the humble servant of his elder 

 brother, and would even then insist on having a visible emblem of Rama in 

 the shape of a pair of slippers which had been hallowed by contact with his 

 feet. 1 1 The faithful manner in which he preserves his trust, and the cheer- 

 fulness with which he makes over the kingdom to Rama, furnish as high 

 an ideal of integrity as may well be desired.^" The records of Raghu's 

 royal race do not furnish a single instance of fratricidal struggle such as 

 that which raged over the sick-bed of Shah Jahan or the grave of 

 Aurungzib. The healthy feeling which existed between Rama and his 

 brothers, has already been indicated. Their sons inherited this virtue. 

 Kusha is peacefully installed by his brother and nephews, as he was their 

 elder both by birth and superior qualities : brotherly feeling was their 

 family trait.** 



Master and Servant. — We now come to the last division of domestic 

 morals, namely, the duties of master and servant. Slavery was the earliest 

 form of this relation, and though inevitable, nay a decided improvement on 

 the war of extermination which preceded it, had a baneful influence on the 

 whole fabric of domestic morality. Slavery, though incidentally mentioned 

 in the worksf f of Kalidasa, never enters into the composition of any of his 

 pictures. He was also perfectly cognisant of the salient points of the 

 relation of servant and master, namely, cheerful obedience on the part of the 

 one and kind recompense on the part of the other. The dialogue between 

 Kandarpa and Indra in the Kumara Samhhava,%% which is too long for quota- 

 tion, strikes this key-note. The devotedness of Dilipa, too, who was for the 



* Vikramorvashi, Act V. Wilson's Hindu Theatre, Vol. I., p. 270. 



t Eaghu., X. 80. 



t Eaghu., XII. 9. 



§ Eaghu., XV. 92—95. 



II Eaghu., XII. 12—19. 



IT Eaghu., XIII. 64—67. 

 ** Eaghu., XVI. 1. 

 tt Kumara Sambhava, V. 86. 

 XX III. 2-22. 





