elegance of their form and the skill displayed in the handling of a great variety of metres, some of which are rarely to be met with elsewhere[1], and are sometimes adorned with the additional qualities of difficult and refined rhymes, and the like. Apparently Sûra, to whom the Gâtakamâlâ is ascribed, was a poet richly gifted by Nature, whose talent must have been developed by thorough and extensive literary studies. Above all, I admire his moderation. Unlike so many other Indian masters in the art of literary composition, he does not allow himself the use of embellishing apparel and the whole luxuriant mise en scène of Sanskrit alamkâra beyond what is necessary for his subject. His flowery descriptions, his long and elaborate sermons, his elegant manner of narration, are always in harmony with the scheme of the whole or the nature of the contents. Similarly, in the choice of his metres he was guided by stylistic motives in accordance with the tone and sentiment required at a given point of the narrative. It is a pity that most of these excellencies are lost in the translation.
Thus much for the philologist and the lover of Oriental literature. To the student of Buddhism it is the peculiar character of the Gâtakamâlâ which constitutes its great importance. Although it is styled 'a garland of stories,' it is really a collection of homilies. Each Gâtaka is introduced by a simple prose sentence of ethical and religious purport, which is to be illustrated by the story. The whole treatment of the tale bears the character of a religious discourse. Prof. Cowell, in his preface to the translation of the Pâli Gâtaka, observes that the Gâtaka-legends are 'continually introduced into the religious discourses … whether to magnify the glory of the Buddha or to illustrate Buddhist doctrines and
- ↑ Among the less common metres I notice the Mattamayûra V, 22-24, XXIX, 4 and 32; the Pramitâkshara XVII, 17, XVIII, 20, XXIII, 25; the Bhugaṅgaprayâta XXIX, 26; the Praharanakalitâ or Kalikâ XVII, 20; some metre akin to the Sumânikâ—cp. Colebrooke, Misc. Ess. II, 141—XXIII, 34-39, for it does not suit the scheme taught by Colebrooke, in verses 35-39 each pâda consisting of two trochees and a bacchius, whereas verse 34 is made up of two trochees and a molossus.
them, which are not good Sanskrit, as vigita and most of those signalized by Cowell and Neil in p. ix of their edition of the Divyâvadâna. He often employs uddhava = Pâli utthava [which itself is = Skt. utsava], sumukha = 'propense,' sâtmîbhavati, ᵒkaroti, ᵒbhâva, a term to express the imbibing of qualities into one's nature, adhyâsaya = âsaya, vitâna and vaitânya = 'dejected' and 'dejection,' vimanah = durmanah 'sad,' pratipat and pratipatti = '(good) conduct' and so on. Likewise he uses such words as vanîpaka, pratisammodana, (ahorâtram) atinâmayâm âsa, XXVI, 27 ârabhya [= Pâli ârabbha] in the meaning of 'concerning' = adhikritya, âsritya and VIII, 20 pratyâham = pratyaham. On the other hand, instances of old words and expressions, and of such as were hitherto only known from the Dictionaries, are found in his work. So e.g. addhâ IX, 60 and elsewhere, âkumbha XVII, 5, XXVIII, 31, dândâginika in XXVIII, 37.
