The unsettled chronology of Indian literature makes it impossible
to work out at present Bana's relations with other Sanskrit
writers. Professor Peterson, [21] indeed, makes some interesting
conjectures as to his connection with other authors of his own country,
and also suggests, from similarity of phrase, that he may have fallen
indirectly under the influence of Alexandrian literature. Be that
as it may, he has been for many centuries a model of style, and it
is therefore worth while to consider briefly the characteristics
of his style compared with European standards. The first thing
that strikes the reader is that the sense of proportion, the very
foundation of style as we know it, is entirely absent. No topic is
let go till the author can squeeze no more from it. In descriptions
every possible minor detail is given in all its fulness; then follows
a series of similes, and then a firework of puns. In speeches, be they
lamentations or exhortations, grief is not assuaged, nor advice ended,
till the same thing has been uttered with every existing variety of
synonym. This defect, though it springs from the author's richness of
resource and readiness of wit, makes the task of rendering in English
the merit of the Sanskrit style an impossible one. It gives also a
false impression; for to us a long description, if good, gives the
effect of 'sweetness long drawn out,' and, if bad, brings drowsiness;
whereas in Sanskrit the unending compounds suggest the impetuous rush
of a torrent, and the similes and puns are like the play of light
and shade on its waters. Bana, according to Professor Weber, [22]
'passes for the special representative of the Pañcali style,' [23]
which Bhoja, quoted in the commentary of the 'Sahitya-Darpana,' defines
as 'a sweet and soft style characterized by force (ojas) and elegance
(kanti), containing compounds of five or six words.' But style,
which is to poetic charm as the body to the soul, varies with the
sense to be expressed, and Bana in many of his speeches is perfectly
simple and direct. Owing to the peacefulness of 'Kadambari,' there is
little opportunity for observing the rule that in the 'Katha' letters
'ought not to be too rough, even when the flavour is furious.' [24]
Of the alliteration of initial consonants, the only long passage
is in the description of Çukanasa (p. 50), but in its subtler
forms it constantly occurs. Of shorter passages there are several
examples--e.g., Candra Candala (infra, p. 127); Candrapida Candalo
(Sanskrit text, p. 416); Utkantham sotkantham kanthe jagraha (Ibid.,
p. 367); Kamam sakamam kuryam (Ibid., p. 350); Candrapida pidanaya
(Ibid., p. 370). The ornament of çlesha, or paronomasia, which seems
to arise from the untrained philological instinct of mankind seeking
the fundamental identity of like sounds with apparently unlike meaning,
and which lends dramatic intensity when, as sometimes in Shakespeare,
[25] a flash of passionate feeling reveals to the speaker an original
sameness of meaning in words seemingly far apart, is by Bana used
purely as an adornment. He speaks of pleasant stories interwoven
with puns 'as jasmine garlands with campak buds,' and they abound
in his descriptions. The rasanopama, [26] or girdle of similes,
is exemplified (p. 115), 'As youth to beauty, love to youth, spring
to love' so was Kapiñjala to Pundarika. Vishamam (incongruity) is
the figure used in 'the brightness of his glory, free from heat,
consumed his foes; constant, ever roamed' (p. 48). It can scarcely
be separated from virodha (contradiction)--often used, as in 'I
will allay on the funeral pyre the fever which the moon, sandal,
and all cool things have increased' (p. 195)--or from vicitram [27]
(strangeness), where an act is contrary to its apparent purpose:
'There lives not the man whom the virtues of the most courteous lady
Kadambari do not discourteously enslave' (p. 159). Arthapatti [28] (a
fortiori conclusion) is exemplified in 'Even the senseless trees, robed
in bark, seem like fellow-ascetics of this holy man. How much more,
then, living beings endowed with sense!' (p. 43). Time and space would
alike fail for analysis of Bana's similes according to the rules of the
'Sahitya-Darpana.' [29] The author of the 'Raghavapandaviya' considers
Subandhu and Bana as his only equals in vakrokti, or crooked speech,
and the fault of a 'meaning to be guessed out' ('Sahitya-Darpana,' §
574) is not rare. The 'Kavya-Prakaça,' in addition to the references
given by Professor Peterson, quotes a stanza describing a horse in the
'Harsha-Carita' (chap. iii.) as an example of svabhavokti.
The hero belongs to the division described as the high-spirited,
but temperate and firm ('Sahitya-Darpana,' § 64), i.e., he who
is 'not given to boasting, placable, very profound, with great
self-command, resolute, whose self-esteem is concealed, and faithful
to his engagements,' and who has the 'eight manly qualities' of
'brilliancy, vivacity, sweetness of temper, depth of character,
steadfastness, keen sense of honour, gallantry, and magnanimity'
(Ibid., § 89). Kadambari is the type of the youthful heroine who
feels love for the first time, is shy, and gentle even in indignation
(Ibid., § 98). The companions of each are also those declared in the
books of rhetoric to be appropriate.