Ishvara Pratyabhijna Vimarshini Part 1 (KSTS 22)

XIV

There is also an oft-quoted verse¹ to prove the statement that Māgha was a poet of great merit. It says that Kālidāsa is famous for his matchless similes; Bhāravi for the depth of meaning; Shri Harsha for the use of sweet and appropriate words; and lastly, Māgha's poetry combines in itself all three qualifications. A close examination of the Shishupālavadha does, no doubt, convince us of the truth of the above statement, but his free indulgence in artificiality, like that of Bhāravi whom he has faithfully imitated in many ways, has underrated the importance which it would otherwise command.

Notwithstanding the fact that our author seems to abhor the unnecessary strain of artificiality on poetry in vogue in his time, as is evident from a verse in Shishupālavadha², he is seen to fall in the same pit in as much

1. The simile of Kālidāsa, the depth of meaning of Bhāravi, the sweetness of language of Naishadha (Shri Harsha), in Māgha are found all three qualities. original: "उपमा कालिदासस्य भारवेरर्थगौरवम् । नैषधे पदलालित्यं माघे सन्ति त्रयो गुणाः ॥"

2. The Mahākāvya becomes unintelligible like a crossword puzzle when its shlokas are composed in the form of Chakras wheels, Sarvatobhadras omni-auspicious diagrams, Gomutrikabandhas cow-urine-track patterns, and what not. Shloka 41, Canto XIX. original: "विषमं सर्वतोभद्रचक्रगोमूत्रिकादिभिः । श्लोकैरिव महाकाव्यं व्यूहैस्तदभवद्दलम् ॥"