A SANSCRIT POExM BY SHRl HARSHA. 331 



to be expected that in a work like this, it woukl be neglected. The taste 

 of Europeans would have been more gratified had it been less employed, 

 but in proportion to their gratification would have been the disappointment 

 of Asiatics. When I find a number of instances of this play upon words 

 in our own Scriptures and that too on solemn occasions,* I am the less 

 disposed to censure it by wholesale in other writings; tho' it is cer- 

 tainly to be regretted that it should have been carried to such excess in 

 some splendid oriental productions. Most of these puns upon words in 

 the Naishadha apply to nouns and adjectives : the noun being used in % 

 double sense, and the adjective being equally applicable to each of two 

 nouns very dilTerent in their nature. A few examples Avill be sufficient 

 to explain this. 



3Tiir ^^-^r f^-^ra cq^5T3|o^^^%4^^it II 



Wilt not thou who art the nj^mph of this world act the heroine over these Kings who conquer 

 by arrows, bows, and bowstrings (ir^,) conquer this one by excellence alone (jr^ff.) 



The Moon's father had but one pupil of the eye ^cTT^T) but he is much richer and has twenty- 

 seven constellations (^cfT'ilT.} 



In the evening, from the sinking of the (tT^flff) sun or boat, the eyes of all pass 

 (^J^TTRT^ItT^c^) vi\ev of darkness or the dark river, by means of ^^J^tf) the stars or a raft. 



Examples of the double application of the adjective occur in the 

 following lines. 



* See the 49th Chapter of Genesis in the original Hebrew, for the play upon the words is 

 lost in the translation. 



