If 



364 



Prannath Pandit — Morals of Kdliddsa. 



[No. 3, 



nonce playing the part of a servant of Vasishttha in charge of his precious 

 cattle the details of which have been already given, is decidedly exemplary. 

 The Hindu Cupid when summoned for his fatal mission by Indra, was 

 painting the feet of his Venus, but such is his promptitude to obey the call, 

 that he leaves one foot unpainted.* TTrvasTii, when about to culti- 

 vate the acquaintance of her loved and loving deliverer, is summoned to 

 assist at a dramatic entertainment at Indra' s court, and though it cost her 

 an effort, promptly obeys.f 



Social morality. — From the home we pass by a natural transition to 

 society. Social virtues may be classified under Justice and Eenevolence. In 

 domestic morals the two are blended or at least ought to be, into one 

 harmonious whole. 



Justice, Candor. — Justice in our thoughts, or candor, is the ornament 

 of all of Kalidasa's heroes. There is not a single instance in his works of 

 malicious equivocation. The illusions which Nandini% and Shiva § practise 

 on Dilipa and Pdrvati respectively, are benevolent in their conception, and 

 end in agreeable surprise. It would be manifestly unfair to drag into this 

 comparison the dramatic character of the Vidushaka, which is professedly a 

 Caricature of human frailty. The equivocation of Pururavd with Ausmari\\ 

 is the most decent course that could be adopted under the circumstances. 



Veracity.— Of veracity in its widest sense, or Justice in words, 

 Kalidasa was a great admirer. He makes the princes of Baghu's race 

 reticent out of their determination not to speak anything but the truth. ^[ 

 Of Dasaratha we are told that, like Epaminondas, he never spoke an untruth 

 even in jest,** and of Atithi we are informed that what passed his lips was 

 never untrue. ft Dasaratha's sincerity must always challenge our admi- 

 ration, when he kept his word at the expense of his happiness and his life. J ^ 



Gratitude. — Priyamvada is anxious to requite his unconscious liber- 

 ator Aja,§§ and his feeling that without a proper requital, his restoration to 

 celestial rank was vain, finds an echo in the text which Mallindtha quotes to 

 the purport that one unable to requite his benefactor had better be dead. || |j 

 The Megliaduta contains the poet's confession of faith on the subject : 



ft 



Kumara Sambhava, IV. 19. 



Vikramorvashi, Act II. Wilson's Hindu Theatre, Vol. I., p. 221. 



Vide ante. 



Kumara Sambhava, V. 84. 



Vikramorvashi, Acts II. III. Wilson's Hindu Theatre, Vol. I., pp. 223, 233—235. 



^c5JT^ fafT"Wfw^ ' Ea ghu., I. 7. 



T farRIT ^ft^TWSIT^fa I Raghu., IX. 8. 



^T^rnr ?r rrfHrw i Eaghu., xvii. 42. 



Eaghu., XII. 10. 



Eaghu., V. 46. 



^ffRfijpTOf^ ^tfa<niTO TOU Mallindtha on Eaghu., V. 46. 



