1876.] 



Prannath Pandit— Morals of Kdliddsa. 



365 



"Even a low man, when Ms friend comes to him for assistance will 

 not turn away his face, m consideration of former kindness "* 



"The Hindus," remarks Wilson, « have been the object of much idle 

 panegyric and equally idle detraction. Some writers have invested them 

 with every amiable attribute, and they have been deprived by others of the 

 common virtues of humanity. Amongst the excellencies denied to them grati 

 tude has always been particularized ; and there are many of the European 

 residents in India who scarcely imagine that the natives of the country ever 

 heard of such a sentiment. To them, and to all detractors on this head 

 the above verse is a satisfactory reply, "f Kalidasa extended the duty of 

 gratitude even to benefactors amongst the brute creation. J 



Benevolence. Civility.— Kalidasa's characters never lack in civility or 

 benevolence in our conversation and manners. Ditipa and his queen are hono- 

 rably received at their preceptor's hermitage. § Dasaratlia, we are told, never 

 used a harsh word even to his bitterest foes.|| Bdma, when finally bidding 

 adieu to the chiefs of apes and demons who' had attended at his coronation, 

 offers them parting offerings through the hands of the Queen in whose 

 rescue they had been instrumental.^ The anxious frenzy of the exiled 

 Yacsha which leads him to address the inanimate cloud as a messenger to 

 convey tidings to his faithful spouse, does not make him omit the formalities 

 of civil reception.** The prefatory civilitiesf f which the disguised Shiva 

 utters to Bdrvati, and the liberal professions with which the Mountain-king 

 receives the seven sages, + + would bear comparison with the Persian or 

 Chinese code of politeness. 



^ Of active kindness and liberality, we have an instance in Baglu, who 

 instituted the VisJiwajit sacrifice, and at its end gave away all he possessed. §§ 

 The generous struggle between the same king and Kautsa, the former bent 

 on giving more than the latter had wanted, and the latter declining to take 

 anything above what he urgently required, |||| furnishes another notable 

 instance of liberality. AtitU never revoked his gifts.f f Tne kings of 



Purvamegha, 17. J 



f Wilson's Works, Vol. IV, p. 330. 

 :1m., IX. 65. 

 mi., I. 55. 

 hu., IX. 8. 

 If Eagau., XIV. 19. 

 ** Purvamegha, 4. 

 tt Kumara Sambhava, V. 33—40. 

 tt Kumara Sambhava, VI. 50—63. 

 §§ Raghu., IV. 86. V 1. 

 Illl Raghu., V 31. 

 f 1" ^tT ?T WIX WrfJ Raghu., XVII. 42. 





