THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

V.. 7. Kalidasa's Characters299Hindu mind showed once more that wonderful mythopoeic penetrativenesswhich is as unerring and admirable in its way as theGreek mythopoeic felicity and tact.When Narayana, the primeval and dateless sage of old, enteredupon austerities in the most secret and desolate recessesof the Snowy Mountains, Indra, prince of the air, always hostileto asceticism, always distrustful of the philosophic and contemplativespirit, was alarmed for the balance of the world and thesecurity of his own rule. He therefore sent the Apsaras to disturbthe meditations of Narayana. Then upon the desolate HimalayaSpring set the beauty of his feet; the warm south wind breathedupon those inclement heights, blossoming trees grew in the eternalsnow and the voice of the cuckoo was heard upon the mountaintops. It was amidst these vernal sweetnesses that the Apsarascame to Narayana; they were the loveliest of all the sisterhood,and subtlest and most alluring of feminine arts and enchantmentswas the way of their wooing; but Narayana who is Vishnu theWorld-Saviour when he comes in the guise of the ascetic, movedneither by the passion of love nor by the passion of anger, smiledin the large and indulgent mood of his world-embracing natureand opening his thigh took from it a radiant and marvellous creature,of whose beauty the loveliest Apsaras seemed but pale and brokenreflections. Ashamed they veiled their faces and stole silentlyaway from the snowy hermitage. But Narayana called thisdaughter of his creation Urvasie (she who lies in the thigh of theSupreme, the thigh being the seat of sensuousness) and gave herto Indra to be his most potent defence against the austerities ofspiritual longing.And yet the work of the philosophic mind incidentally servessensuous and material life by increasing its resources and thedepth of its charm. For the power of the philosophic idealswhich have profoundly affected humanity is not limited to thedomain of the intellect but also affects, enlarges and strengthensman's aesthetic outlook upon the world. The sensuous worldbecomes fuller of beauty, richer in colours, shades and suggestions,more profound and attractive in each widening of thehuman ideal. It is Urvasie who sprang from the thigh of thewithered hermit cold and not any of those original daughters of