347. THE EQUIPMENT OF THE POET 349

THE EQUIPMENT OF THE POET 349

or the dreams he dreams. The following definitions of प्रतिभा will make this clear. 'प्रज्ञा नवनवोन्मेषशालिनी प्रतिभा मता ... वर्णनानिपुणः कविः' भट्टतौत in काव्यकौतुक (vide p. 221 above); 'प्रतिभा अपूर्ववस्तु- निर्मायक्षमा प्रशा तस्या विशेषो रसावेशव शदसौन्दर्यकाव्यनिर्माणकमत्वं' and शक्ि: प्रतिभानं वर्णनीय वस्तुविषयनूतनोल्लेखशालित्वम्' लोचन pp. 34 and 164: अपारे काव्यसंसारे कविरेव प्रजापतिः । यथास्मै रोचते विश्वं तथेदं परिवतते ॥' (ध्व. P. 278); प्रसन्नपदनव्यार्थयुक्त्युद्वोधविधायिनी। स्फुरन्ती सत्कवेवुद्धि: प्रतिभा सर्वतोमुखी॥' वाग्भटालङ्वार I. 4; vide also वामन's वृत्ति on I. 3. 16 'कवित्वबीजं प्रतिभा- नम्'; रुद्रट I. 15-16; the prakrit verse अतहट्टिए1 वि तहसंठिए व्व हिशअम्मि जा सिवेसेइ। अत्थविसेसे सा जअ विकडकविगोशरा वाखी॥' quoted in ध्व. P.296; राजशेखर p.11 and भट्टतौत (p. 221 above) refer to this two- fold gift of the poet, of seeing visions of striking beauty (विचित्र ... AeT) and of conveying to others through appropriate language the visions he secs. Generally most great poets in Sanskrit did not endeavour to state explicitly any moral purpose as the aim of their works. They were more concerned with a happy cnding to their dramas and with creating an atmosphere of ideas and bliss by their poems than with explicitly stated moral endings or ends. Their dominant mood was delight and they exhibitcd it mostly on the plane of normal relations, passions, affections and even prejudices of men and women. For restrictions of space I cannot go deeper into the nature of sfaT.2 It means 'that mental faculty which presents ever fresh flashes or coruscations of ideas' (with उनमेष) or 'ever fresh

1. (छाया) अतथास्थितानपि तथासंस्थितानिव हृदये या निवेशयति । अर्थ- विशेषान् सा जयति विकटकविगोचरा वाणी ॥. The idca is : वाणीप्रसादादेव कवि- गोचरो वर्णनीयार्थो विकटो निःसीमा संपद्ते। 2. It is usual to translate प्रतिभा by 'imagination'. It is better to translate प्रतिभा as (inborn) 'creative faculty'. I. A. Richards defines 'Imagination' (on p. 242) basing his remarks on Cole- ridge as follows : That synthetic and magic power reveals itself in the balance or reconcilation of opposite or discordant qualities, the sense of novelty and freshness with old and familiar objects, a more than usuil state of emotion with more than usual order. But that word has six meanings, according to R. A. Richards' 'Principles of Literary criticism (ed. of 1925 pp. 239-243, chap. XXXII). Coleridge made a distinc- tion between 'Imagination' and 'Fancy'. Others do not make that distinction.