79 ,.,^-^i,:.
haps too the scenes of the Malavika^p^ra scoped
for a wide display of the beauties of n<&a|e/and tjfc animals in rural and sylvan retreats.I1!® hero \A more a human character than the e™i~^it--^^ Pururavas. u Both rest moreover says Weber uand consequently bear a ideal character ; the Malavikagnimitra court of a historic prince, and consequently tBSHsSwfc-*"actuality, with its self-made, and therefore, scanty concerns."
Again the Professor objects, "the manners described appear to be those of a degenerate state of Hindu society.n" This has no meaning. Is polygamy an equivalent to degeneracy?" Hindu canons of conduct license the marriage of a male with more than one wife. The Sakuntala with its hero Dushyanta, the lover of a big harem and the Vikramorvasi with its hero Pururavas, the suitor to the hand of a harlot nymph must equally share the accusation. There is not any feature of" degeneracy noticeable here, that cannot equally be brought home to its sister dramas. Besides any student of literary works must observe a similarity of settled style in the works of the same author. Internal evidence is certainly against the theory. The frequent occurrence ofthe same phrases and w^ pressions, the invariable repetition of similar figurative embellishments, the charmingly moiest introductions in the dramatic prologues, the brevity and singularity of the benedictory verses, the freedom and harmony of the atyct metfe—aU these are striking parities that the three works prominently show. 41 The reader will in vain seek for similar( points of contact' in works that professedly belong to different authors, unless one of them has designedly imitated in his own writings the-diction, the style, the thoughts, the fancies, the modesty, and?!ttftittak attempt of Kalida$tf$ is nbt Improbable,