There are some incidents in the play, which appear to us-' improbable, such as the miraculous effect of the curse of Dur-vasas upon which the whole play turns and the upheaval of Dushyanta to Indra's court in the aerial car. Such devices are: doubtless introduced with an artistic purpose and they are hot without their parallels in the dramas of the west, Shakespeare among others. But for the curse there could be no development of the Sringara—the life principle of Act VI.V The introduction-' ctf the celestial car had the effect of the re-union of Dushyanta and Sakuntala in the hermitage of Maricha but for which a happy termination of the drama would have been well-nigh impossible.
The Vikramonmsi forms the^second of Kalidasa's plays.' It belongs to the class of Trotakain five acts and represents events partly terrestrial and partly celestial. '
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,. The plot is based on mythology as contained in the Puranas. It is true that the story differs, from that which is given in the Vishnu Purana, But Wilson argues that the play preceded the Puranas, for "had it been subsequently composed, the poet-would .either spontaneously or in deference to sacred authority have adhered more closely to the Puranic legend." But a poet' cannot save himself from varying the original and the varia-1 tion itself must depend on the poet's fancies, the popular notion and the: environments of dramatic scenes. Besides the Professor himself states that the story of Pururavas as stated in the Matsya Purana keeps close with that dramatised by our poet. Is it not therefore more probable that the Puranas weres weji-known by that day and that the poet might have preferred the account pf,the Matsya finding it., more, suitable for drama-tisation? ' . • • • . /•;-.: ". ... -' '-•• ..;-• ' . ' . f,/: \\