Ishvara Pratyabhijna Vimarshini Part 1 (KSTS 22)

as he indulges in the tour de force a feat of skill like Subandhu and Bhāravi, who is his ideal. Perhaps the intentional artificiality, which Māgha has taken a fancy to, may find its justification in the fact that the age in which he lived was an age of artificial poetry, or Māgha wanted to outshine his predecessor by parading his skill in composing Chakrabandhas circular verse patterns, Ekākshari Shlokas verses using only one consonant, Anulomas verses reading the same forward, and Pratilomas verses reading the same backward in such a way as was impossible for others to imitate.

As stated above, Māgha's model was Bhāravi, just as Kālidāsa was the model for the later poets. Bhāravi and Māgha are inseparably associated with each other in Sanskrit poetry. In fact, Shishupālavadha The Slaying of Shishupāla has been written in imitation of Bhāravi's Kirātārjunīya Arjuna's Combat with the Kirāta. We shall try to show later on how the two poems have a close resemblance. Though taking into consideration the vigorous language, consistent reasoning, lofty sentiments, spirited eloquence, and high poetic expression which characterizes Bhāravi, we are led to believe that Māgha cannot stand comparison with him, yet the serenity combined with the

1 Cf. canto XIX, Shishupālavadha.
2 Cf. Ibid.