16 A CRITICAL STUDY OF DANDIN of a good number of compounds, not confused with lengthy ones.1 The author of the Kavyadarsa divides ojas into different forms according to the use of compounds which may be either frequent or rare or of moderate occurrence, with the remark that these varieties may be noticed in various species of prose kavya, and, as a matter of fact, he has employed the different varieties of ojas in his prose works. It seems that while in Daśakumāracarita, Dandin adopted the quality of ojas with rarity of compounds, in his later and more ambitious work, Avantisundarikatha, he preferred to employ the guna consisting of compounds in abundance or rather in their different forms. The worst mannerisms of Bāņa's work said to have been followed in Avantisundarikatha could scarcely have been termed as such in the age of Bana and Dandin, which was essentially characterised by the so-called artificialities of style and diction. Nor is it fair to say that the work represents this peculiar ten- dency of his age unsuccessfully. In spite of the fragmentary nature of the text, one cannot fail to see Dandin here in sweet diction, picturesque characterisation and other features which one comes across in Dašakumāracarita. Besides, the writer here does not always indulge in effecting elaborate diction; of course, there are long sentences strung with a number of epithets and compounds and a series of puns, but we also notice at places a simpler diction as also the charm of sententious expressions and vivid descriptions and picturesque scenes charged with rapidity of action.3 It must be admitted, however, that while the earlier romance is free from the effect of leisurely manner of proceeding with the story, and is ornamented quite sparingly, the later romance suffers from lengthy digressions in the form of 1. KA I. 80, 83 2. KA I. 81. It may be noted that Vädijañghāla hereon mentions ASK as an instance of the ojas, indicating thereby that it employed samásabhuyastva of different varieties. 3. Cp. ASK pp. 13, 23-4, 40-1, 47, 57-9, 73-4 etc.; also cp. G. H. Sastri: ASKS, Intro., p. v
