THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

150 The Harmony of Virtueevidently trace this peculiarity to the compact, steep and sometimeselliptical, but always strenuous diction of the Upanishads in whichthe mind of the poet was trained and his personality tempered. Atthe same time, like the Upanishads themselves or like the enigmaticAeschylus, he can be perfectly clear, precise and full whenever hechooses; and he more often chooses than not. His expression of thoughtis usually strong and abrupt, his expression of fact and of emotionstrong and precise. His verse has similar peculiarities. It is a goldenand equable stream that sometimes whirls itself into eddies or dashesupon rocks, but it always runs in harmony with the thought. Vyasahas not Valmiki's movement as of the sea, the wide and unbrokensurge with its infinite variety of waves, which enables him notonly to find in the facile anuØÒup metre a sufficient vehicle for hisvast and ambitious work but to maintain it throughout without itspalling or losing its capacity of adjustment to ever-varying moodsand turns of narrative. But in his narrower limits and on the level ofhis lower flight Vyasa has great subtlety and fineness. Especiallyadmirable is his use, in speeches, of broken effects such as would inless skilful hands have become veritable discords; and again in narrativeof the simplest and barest metrical movements, as in the openingSarga of the Sabhaparva, to create certain calculated effects. But itwould be idle to pretend for him any equality as a master of versewith Valmiki. When he has to rise from his levels to express powerfulemotion, grandiose eloquence or swift and sweeping narrative,he cannot always effect it in the anuØÒup metre; he falls back moreoften than not on the rolling magnificence of the triØÒup (and itsvariations) which best sets and ennobles his strong-winged austerity.Be its limits what one will, this is certain that there was never astyle and verse of such bare, direct and resistless strength as this ofVyasa's or one that went so straight to the heart of all that is heroicin a man. Listen to the cry of insulted Draupadi to her husband:£iÒZ#oiÒZ# ik' xeze .Imsen yqa m*t" -nam*tSy ih papIyan( .ayaRmal>y jIvit -- 1uttiØÒhottiØÒha kiÌ ÙeØe bhÈmasena yathÀ mÐtaÕnÀmÐtasya hi pÀpÈyÀn bhÀryÀmÀlabhya jÈvati1 The Mahabharata, Virataparva, 17. 15.