Woman by reason of those qualities is like Grammar. * 4. එසඳ ...............ගුණනේ.....වන...... සඳලකුනු This comparison is explained by the same stanza conveying different ideas as follows: It is by reason of (the following) properties that 4. වන.........ගුණයෙන්........... she is like the symbols of sound (that is to say) එසඳ...............සද ලකුනු 1. "Nath" and "varatha" are produced by elision: † ora.........do ... dos..........ES 2. The verb is in the seventh section: කිරිය...වන...සත්.........අදියර 3. The word "Hedahili" is produced by substitution. § wired.......... ................අදෙස් The above conveys both a rule of Grammar, and an eulogium upon the female sex. In either sense it is grammatically correct; in both senses it is elegant; and in neither is it defective in imagery. These lines afford us an opportunity to ascertain the date of the Sidat'sangarawa, but we shall, for obvious reasons, notice the subject hereafter. There are many other double-meaning verses in several books; but it will suffice to make one more selection from the Yoga ratnakare, a book no less celebrated for its doctrines on medicine, than esteemed for the elegance of its versification. පිහිටි ගුණ තිර සර,,, ක ල සව් කූලන්පිරි ව ... ୪ විහිදිරස් මනහර වඳිමි සිරි ගණ සුනෙර හැමට ර ... *The word here rendered Grammar, is in the Singhalese a compound term, which means the symbols of sound, ceny. and As and are produced by the elision or lopping of 6, (see § 9.) so woman according to the first translation was shewn to be blameless, lopped of all her faults. The verb, which is the subject of the seventh section of the Grammar, conveys an act, as in the agency which is indicated by previously done or obtained merit. As by අදෙස්, a term of Grammar for substitution (see § 10.) ඇදහිලි becomes හැදැගිලි; so the simple, unbelieving, sinful woman, was imbued with faith. 1st translation, taking the subject of the stanza as Budha. Always do I bow to the Mahamera-like Budha (who) හැමවර... වඳිමි................සුනෙර ............සිරිගණ surrounded by all castes and races— පිරිවරකල....සව්.......කුලන් 2nd translation, taking the subject of the stanza as the Mahamera. Always do I bow to the Budha-like Mahamera, (who) හැමවර ......වඳිම්......... සිරිගණ... සුනෙර encircled by all the hills and rocks,-(and) පිරිවරකල......සව්......කුලන් resplendent with pleasing lustre,— විහිදී........ මනහර...රැස් has firm, substantial qualities. 989...6........... We should not omit to add to the above one other species of composition, called Debas or dialogues. They are generally the language of imagination, wound up at the conclusion with some reality or praise (as the case may be) which the writer wishes to convey: The following from the Perekumba Siritha furnishes a good illustration: හේසදකිම මුහුද කීම සංඟවෙනු වෙල ත The above when rendered into a dialogue, may be read as follows: The Ocean:-ovie. O Moon! The Moon:-809. What? O Ocean! P The Ocean:—කිම සැඟවෙනුවෙලත. Why dost thou hide thyself behind the skirts of the shore? The Moon:—මෙම ගජ හය අතින් පැරකුම්ම්රජදිවුතඳෙයිගිජි , (Because) the enlightened King Parakkrama gives away his (elephants) to those who are in quest of elephants and horses.* The Ocean:—ඔහු මදහසකරල වත නදුන් කැළු සොමිගුණ gologiques. (Nay); the offering of that silver brilliancy (gentleness) of rays, which thou hast emitted is (alone) sufficient to please him (towards thee, and deter him from such an act.)† Having now given a brief, though, doubtless, an imperfect account of the Singhalese Poetry; we shall next proceed to shew a few rules of Versification, or Prosody. Quantity, feet, and pauses are necessarily constituent parts of all verse; and one great advantage which the Singhalese possess over the Western nations, is the existence in the language of the former, of symbols of long and short sounds indubitably expressed, without reference to usage (very often an uncertain arbiter) for the ascertainment of their quantity. It is for this reason that we have used the word sound instead of letter. We must, however, not omit to mention that there is a poetical licence, which permits the use of a long letter for a short, or a short for a long letter; but this is very rare indeed in good compositions. The letter & in the word in the following line, is used for the long ලී;e. g. කොලම ගොතා අදිතත් බැරි දල පිලි මතු පිට අදිනව *This answer conveys to a person well read in the Mythology of the East greater information than the words themselves impart.-'1 do so, lest the enlightened King Parakkrama, who gives away elephants to those who are in quest of elephants and horses-should also part with my own elephant, which is my habitation.' The Ocean is here represented to have spoken thus:-'Nay, the offering of that silver-brilliancy (gentleness) of rays, which thou hast emitted is alone sufficiont to please him towards thee; and to prevent him from giving away thy habitation,' "Even if leaves can be worn by being woven together, coarse cloth can I not wear outermost." The melody of the Singhalese verse depends chiefly upon a proper distribution of short and long sounds; not to mention, what is common to all poetry, the choice of words, the seat of the accent, the pause and the cadence. In Singhalese as in English, the cæsural pause* is not without effect. Of this the following beautiful lines from the celebrated Guttila furnish a good illustration. මන් කෙසේ පවසමිළ සේ: වර :: සුර ලඳුන්දුන්රඟ සුබා "How can I describe the dance of the goddesses-whose hands move like lightning, and as if intent upon portraying a mass of pictures-whose feet move after the music with the same ease with which gold adheres to mercury—and who look at the company with the corners of their eyes with the sharpness of Cupid's darts?" † The short sounds or syllabic instants are called luhu or lagu, 'light' marked in the Singhalese, thus (as will be * This pause sometimes falls before the middle of a line; but it does not thereby render poetry less sweet. The chief accomplishments of the goddesses are here portrayed. Mr. Wilson says at p. 76 of the Megha Duta: "It is to the commentators also that I am indebted for the sole occupation of the goddesses being pleasure and dress: the fact is, To sing, to dance, of To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye, constitutes a very well educated female according to the custom Hindostan." Amongst the Singhalese, however, it is different. Except amongst the inferior classes, all the above so-called "ornaments of nature save elegance in dress, are looked upon by the Singhalese as unbefitting the female sex. 99 seen, the very opposite sign which is employed by the English); and the long sounds, or al (silent) letters, together with their respective vowels, with whose assistance they are pronounced, are called guru, heavy' marked thus, being the English short sign upside down. There is a third sound called puluta 'prolated' and marked thus; but this is merely distinguished from the guruand lagu with a view to mark the prolations in singing. The Wadankaipotta, a very ancient work (the greater part of which it is difficult to redeem from the inaccuracies that have crept in through the ignorance of copyists) has the following definition of these sounds. ඒක නළුහු යයි ද න කියමි යුගමත දිගු ය යි භූරපවස "One instant is 'light' and is called lagu; two instants are 'heavy' and are called guru; three instants are 'prolated,' and are called puluta; and a silent letter is only half of an instant." These instants are also illustrated by certain writers by the notes of birds, and cries of animals: e. g.-The note of the chataca represents a lagu; the croaking of a raven is represented as being equal to a guru; the shrill prolated cry of the peacock is said to be equal to a puluta; and the suppressed cry of a weasel to half-an-instant, or less than one instant. An letter is a consonant which cannot be sounded without the help of, and being preceded by, a vowel sound; and which has its inherent vowel sound suppressed by a symbol on the top of the letter, e. g. cannot be sounded without a vowel ; this together with its vowel produces one compound sound: and they are therefore reckoned as two short letters or sounds, equal to one long sound. Thus -මම්. = Note that the following letters qr, 1, 2, ☎ and, are respectively of one syllabic instant in quantity. |