THE VOCABULARY OF THE 'MEGHA-SANDESA' This is an alphabetical list of the words found in the Megha- sandeśa of Kālidāsa; and, although it does not cite the actual pas- sages in which the several words occur, it gives complete references to the places in the poem where they do. The Swamiji, who has compiled it, is now engaged in preparing similar lists for the remaining poems and plays of the same poet. A concordance of this kind may serve several useful purposes. Its utility to the lexicographer, for instance, who is intent on giving illustrative quotations from standard authors is obvious. In the case of a work like the Rigveda containing obscure terms, it helps to determine their meanings through a comparison of their uses in different contexts. Its main use here will be in the study of the poet's style on its formal side. By glancing over this list, we can see the supreme simplicity of his vocabulary. There is nothing that is archaic or abstruse in it; and it is also singularly free from out-of-the-way derivatives and ponderous compounds, which may easily disfigure the composition of a poet writing in a learned language like Sanskrit. It shows, by the way, that the highest form of poetry can be fashioned out of the simplest words. The range of the vocabulary again is surpris- ingly wide, considering the short compass of the poem. To mention only one other striking feature: Very few words and phrases are used in the work more than twice, and several appear only once. In the Rtu-samhāra, for example, (assuming that it is by Kalidasa) recurrent expressions which serve no special poetic purpose are not at all uncommon; and one may safely conclude on the ground merely of this feature of the style that the present work is later, even though there were no other indic- ations of it. When similar concordances relating to the remaining works of the poet which are all much longer are published, they are sure to disclose other characteristic excellences of his style and also throw further light on the course of its development. Meanwhile those who are devoted to the muse of Kālidāsa will feel grateful to the Swamiji for this new aid to the study and appreciation of a poem which may, without exaggeration, be described as one of the greatest and finest lyrics in the language.
