Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 435

QUESTIONING A BRAHMIN
395
But there are letters which, though short in prose writing
and in ordinary conversation, become long in verse by their
thus the initial a in the word aksharam, though
position
;
short generally, becomes long in versification, being placed
In the same manner
before two consonants, Jc and sha.
the letter ka, though usually short, is long in such words as
karman, Jcarnam, &c, on account of the two consonants
which follow it.
As I wished to know whether this rule admitted of that
poetical licence of which we find some examples in the
writings of the best Latin poets that is, whether a final
short letter could become long by position when the word
which follows it begins with two consonants I questioned
a Brahmin whom I had asked to explain to me the structure
He had already seemed somewhat
of Hindu versification.
surprised at the facility with which I understood his ex-
planations, and I noticed that his professorial tone and
arrogant self-conceit were gradually diminishing. But
when I asked this question he stood dumbfounded, and
for a while stared me in the face without uttering a word.
At length he answered
I wonder how such a thought
could have occurred to you, knowing as you do so little
as yet even of the rudimentary elements of our poetry.'
I told him that the different kinds of poetry which were
studied in my own country bore many resemblances to
the poetry of India, and that the knowledge I had pre-
viously derived from the former had led me to ask this
particular question.
But his astonishment, instead of
decreasing, grew still greater.
He found it very difficult
to understand how such sublime things could ever have
entered the minds of foreigners, and how poets could be
found elsewhere than in India. This absurd prejudice on
his part easily impressed him with the idea that I was
a person of wonderful mental penetration. One advantage
which resulted from our conversation was that in future
—
—
'
:
me became much more respectful.
in Latin, the last letter or vowel of a Hindu verse
may be of any quantity at pleasure but in such cases the
distinction must always be marked in accentuation.
his
conduct towards
As
;
In an idolatrous country everything necessarily tends
towards superstition. The poets of India, therefore, hold