THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

158 The Harmony of Virtuewith its poetical delight in the bare beauty of words. It is instructiveto compare with this passage the wonderful silhouetteof night in Valmiki's Book of the Child:inZpNdaStrv" svŠ inlIna m*gpi=," -nWxen tmsa VyaPta idxXc r`unNdn --xnWivRyuJyte sN?ya n.o ne]Wirvav*tm( -n=]taraghn' Jyoiti.Rrv.aste --£iÒZ#it c xIta'xu" xxI loktmonud" -÷adyn( p[ai,na' lokw mna'is p[.ya Svya --nWxain svR.Utain ivcriNt ttStt" -y=ra=ss;(`aXc rOdaXc ipixtaxna" -- 1“Motionless are all trees and shrouded the beasts and birdsand the quarters filled, O joy of Raghu, with the glooms of night;slowly the sky parts with evening and grows full of eyes; densewith stars and constellations it glitters with points of light; andnow yonder with cold beams rises up the moon and thrusts awaythe shadows from the world gladdening the hearts of living thingson earth with its luminousness. All creatures of the night are walkingto and fro and spirit-bands and troops of giants and the carrionfeedingjackals begin to roam.”Here every detail is carefully selected to produce a certaineffect, the charm and weirdness of falling night in the forest; nota word is wasted; every epithet, every verb, every image is soughtout and chosen so as to aid this effect, while the vowelisation issubtly managed and assonance and the composition of sounds skilfullyyet unobtrusively woven so as to create a delicate, wary andlistening movement, as of one walking in the forests by moonlightand afraid that the leaves may speak under his footing or his breathgrow loud enough to be heard by himself or by beings whose presencehe does not see but fears. Of such delicately imaginative artas this Vyasa was not capable, he could not sufficiently turn hisstrength into sweetness. Neither had he that rare, salient and effectivearchitecture of style which makes Kalidasa's1The Ramayana, Bala Kanda, 34. 15-18.niØpandÀstaravaÕ sarve nilÈnÀ mÐgapakØiÍaÕnaiÙena tamasÀ vyÀptÀ diÙaÙca raghunandanaÙanairviyujyate sandhyÀ nabho netrairivÀvÐtamnakØatratÀrÀgahanaÌ jyotirbhiravabhÀsateuttiØÒhati ca ÙÈtÀÌÙuÕ ÙaÙÈ lokatamonudaÕhlÀdayan prÀÍinÀÌ loke manÀÌsi prabhayÀ svayÀnaiÙÀni sarvabhÓtÀni vicaranti tatastataÕyakØarÀkØasasaÛghÀÙca raudrÀÙca piÙitÀÙanÀÕ