(c.) Lyric awed Erotic works of this class are more of a descriptive character, and would differ therefore from what in European poetry might be nietuded under this head. The principal works belonging to iL are the billowing: the It'aueaa lam. or a description of the seasons, attributed to lifilidfisa (q.v.); the N./Au/irk or the elou•onessenger, also supposed to have been written by lifilitlasa—a poen, iu which a demisso,l, Amen red by fate from his wife, is imagined to make a cloud the messenger to of • her ot woe.4, and incidentally, as it were, describes his course over a large tract of India; the slre,triis'..thsisc, or hundred stanzas of Amara, ou annitory feelings mid scenes, the natural sease of which commentators have twisted also into one of a mystical char acter, so us to make them appear less objectionable, espjcially as they by sonic to have been composed by the celebrated theologian S'ankara, wilco he nod ani mated the tka.1 body of king Amilru (see S'AstissaA); these stanzas have an epigramma tic character, and sham in this respect the style of the first S'ataka, or 'moored verses on love, by tlhartrThari; the Bluitainioddsa. by Jagannfitha You'd itaraja, in four books, the secon I of which is connected with amatory subjects, while the third is a beautiful elegy on the death of the poet's wife; the Git‘ssiosinsiss, by Jayadeva, who probably lived in the 13th c., which, in tea sections, describes the amours of Kr'ishn'a with toe cow herdesses, h is sepo ra tion from his wife RI Oil, and his ultimate reconciliation with her, and which, the A sz,o-ii;'.efok,e, has also been explained in a mystield sense, Krishna then being _represented as the soul which, for a time, becomes estraugel from the supreme soul, its ori.sinal source, brit finally returns to it, This poem differs from those men tioned before in being intended for singing and for representation at a festival held in honor of Vislin'u; it conil:ines the lyric and the melo•dratuatic character.
(d.) Didactic Poetry.---A portion of this class of poetry may be included under the former head, singe even such works as the Amariis'atabt, and the erotic stanzas of Bltartr'ih«•e, have lunch of the sententious character; another is contained in the episodes of the .1/4.'oifilicirotss, and another forms a considerable portion of the books of fables. The chief special representatives of this class are, "the three ,S'aI4kas," or hundred stanzas on love, good and wise conduct, and renunciation of worldly desires, by /lia• tr'ihari. Similar pieces of poetry are the hundred stanzas of Mines/sips, and some statizes in the anthology of .5 arligadhara, called the SdenyadIaarapadJkati. Others have been collected in various modern anthologies, such as the 14Itletzaka1ana and the Ltiewiteita r'ita.:ime. For the pfK,411 .Thagavaelgitii, sde under YOGA.
(e) plays of the Hindus arc not numerous; they were only acted on special occasions, and the subject of the plot is with predilection borrowed from the legendary literature of ancient India. Hindu dramatists have little regard for unity of time. place, and action; and with the exception of Kfilidasa, they must be considered as inferior in poetical worth to the renowned dramatic writers of ancient Greece and of modern Europe. Besides the reasons to be sought for in the religious, mystical, and
metaphysical tendencies of the Hindu mind, a free development of the Hindu drama was probably also impeded by the heavy and artificial canon which weighed upon Ilindu dramaturgy, and which, ascribed to sacred sources, and looked upon as at law not to be transgressed by any dramatic poet, did not allow much scope for poetical imardnation, and would keep down any free movement upon which it might have ventured. The various kinds of dramatic performances, the number of their acts, the characters. of the plays. the conduct of the plot, the sentiments to be represented, mid even the modes of diction—all these were strictly regulated; so much so, that in spite of the differences which must exist between different authors and plays, there is still a kind of uniformity which pervades the whole Hindu drama, and must strike any one unacquainted with this elaborate dratnatical canon. It must suffice here to mention a few of its peculiarities. All dramatic composition is divided, according to it, into two great classes—the raixass, or performance, and the uparcipaka, or the minor rgpaka; the former containing ten species, from the niltaka., or the play, par excellence, which represents exalted personages, down to the praltaeana, or farcical comedy; and the latter with 18 species. Neither class con tains the species " trissedy"—which is incompatible with a belief in fate, one of the main features of the Hindu mind. Every drama opens with a prelude in the form of a dialogue between the stage-manager and one of his company, in which the name of the author anti of his work, and such prior events as the spectators should know, arc brought before the audience. The first part of this prelude is a prayer invoking the benediction of some deity in favor of the assembly. • The piece this being opened, is then carried on in the usual manlier; but so long as the same net lasts, the stage is never left empty, but the entrance of a new personage is always suanounced by a special person. The piece closes as it began, with a benediction. The principal characters of the play are the hero (ndyalat) and the herione (ndyika). Thp former is either lalita, gay, thoughtless, and good-humored; or idnta, gentle and virtuous; or dhiro &kW, high-spirited, but temperate and firm; or walla, ardent and ambitious; but as each of these categories is again subdivided, they become multiplied to 144 kinds.
Equal minuteness is disp'ayed in specifying the classes of the heroines. The hero had his antagonist in tne pntthaido•ft, I,r counter-hero; and esell of these tea)/ have his mixers, ministers, nod trie I 1 CIS. 'nit; heroine, on her par", has alw:e.s a meacential companion. woo is antes her luster-sister. The subordinate ellarae.ers :ire &seamed as being cautious, mmes, dwarfs, loresters or barbarians, TwO characters, however, de serve sped .1 notice, as being peculiar to the Hindu stage—tee ere,/ And the eniudielka.