THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

IV. 2.Vyasa: Some Characteristics157and its atmosphere. Something of this sort occurs in our poet;for Vyasa is always faithful to himself. When he records the dataof his impression, he does it with force and clearness, frequentlywith a luminous atmosphere around the object, especially witha delight in the naked beauty of the single clear word which atonce communicates itself to the hearer. First come the strongand magical epithets or the brief and puissant touches by whichthe soul of the landscape is made visible and palpable, then theenumeration sometimes only stately, at others bathed in a clearloveliness. The fine opening of the twelfth Sarga of the Nala isa signal example of this method. At the threshold we have thegreat and sombre line,vn' p[it.y' xUNy' i&iLlkag,naidtm( 1vanaÌ pratibhayaÌ ÙÓnyaÌ jhillikÀgaÍanÀditamA void tremendous forest thunderingWith crickets,striking the keynote of gloom and loneliness, then the cold statelyenumeration of the forest's animal and vegetable peoples, then againthe strong and revealing epithet in his “echoing woodlands soundpervaded”;then follows “river and lake and pool and many beastsand many birds” and once more the touch of wonder and weirdness:sa bhn( .Imåpa'Xc ipxacorgra=san(ûûûû dd*xe 2sÀ bahÓn bhÈmarÓpÀÌÙca piÙÀcoragarÀkØasÀn… dadÐÙeShe many alarming shapesOf fiend and snake and giant... beheld,making magical the bare following lines and especially the nearest,pLvlain t@again igirk§$ain svRx" 3palvalÀni paÄÀgÀni girikÓÒÀni sarvaÙaÕAnd pools and tarns and summits everywhere,1The Mahabharata, Vanaparva, 64.1. 2 ibid., Vanaparva, 64.7,9.3The Mahabharata, 64.8.