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smooth-running and deserves to be classed among <fehe works of thQ earlier centuries. But there are two objections in the way of assigning this work to Bhattara Farichandra. First, Bana refers to the Gadya of Harichandra and from tJie nature of .the, reference, he seems, obviously to mean a purely prose composition, which must have fallen a victim* t& the-hand of time. Again the sixth century A. D. is. not to have had any Champu-compositions which are ©f & later growth. Neither the introduction nor the dAophon favours the undisputed assignment of the authorship to our Harichandra.
But as to the nature of his composition, we have the reli-abJe testimony of the hand oif Bana. In his prefatory note to* the Harshacharita, two lines appear highly e,uk>gistic of bur author :
"The excellent prose-work of Harichandra stands supremer luminous with its jingling arrangement of words and preserving the rigid rules of rhetoricians in composition. " This unfiguratiye rendering of the above stanza gives us some clue as to the characteristics of Harichandra^s composition. His Style is highly artificial and the arrangement of his words is in^ rigid keeping with the rules of poetics* He revelled in the figures of sound and alliteration is what pleased him most. With all his defects he. commands our greatest respect. We are not ta Judge ;& |>oeit ; of a remote age from our own stand-point and again: |he ppet is^jiot.Lo be< taken by himself. The obstacles in the "wiay ; of .Harichandra's success , were really insurrrioun table. fie wias .strikmg.atn.ew; route ifi the field of literature— a rput^ which was never, welcomed, if not abhprredaby the Hindu. taste^t of the plot. No floubt the language is naturaless. With some medications at least, prose came forward for some time but retracted its steps back to its original form. The Bhashya litieratere therefore strongly resembles the Brahmanas but with a few varMfcm. tke temts of the Bhashyas have