ON SANSCRIT ALLITERATION. 



139 



^^?7T gyg^T ?T¥7Tr ^T^TfTi? ^^^^^t: i 



^iTT:"^^ri: ^^^Tf^^^: ii 



Die? not the lover, gazing on the vernal sky, which, from the number of sportive busy bees, 

 appeared covered with wandering clouds, meet with the object of his heart's desire ? 



Those wishing to see other examples of the kinds of alliteration that 

 have been here introduced, have only to refer to the NaUdaya, where 

 they will find them in abundance. The work, however, being confined 

 entirely to the kinds that have been mentioned, does not supply a 

 full exposition of the subject under consideration. It furnishes numerous 

 examples of the first three orders of this species of poetry, and particu- 

 larly of the third ; but not extending beyond these, it leaves untouched 

 seven other orders which are necessary to complete the system. And even 

 in the first three orders, it does not give examples of all the genera, and 

 much less of all the species which they contain. 



The subject of alliteration, therefore, deserves in this place a more 

 minute consideration. It forms a distinct, and what may be denominated 

 a third class of Sanscrit poetry, and may be used, as we have seen, in 

 metres of any description, both of the first and second class.* The name 

 by which it is known is Yamaha. In compositions of this nature, it 



is an invariable rule, that while the syllables to be repeated are left to the 

 pleasure of the poet, in every repetition they must be employed in a 

 different acceptation ; and if this rule is ever violated, it is at the expense 

 of his ingenuity. 



In this class of poetry there are ten orders, and in some of them 

 several genera, species, and varieties, which we shall now proceed to specify. 



1.— The first order is called ^^qw- In this the letters repeated occur 

 together without any others intervening. It has four genera, determined 

 by the number of padas in which the alliteration occurs. We shall give one 

 specimen of each genus. Every stanza or verse is divided into four parts. 



* For a description of these classes, see the Prosody of the author's Grammar. 



