‘My father’s feet were wet with tears I let fall on them, and my head was wet with tears he let fall over me.’ When Devakī must yield, for the sake of saving it, her child, it is said of her: [216] hṛdayeneha taran̄gair dvidhābhūteva gacchati yathā nabhasi toye ca candralekhā dvidhā kṛtā. ‘She is divided; her heart remaineth here, her body goeth yonder, as in cloud and water the digit of the moon is divided.’ Rāvaṇa’s contempt for Rāma as a foe is forcibly expressed: [217] kathaṁ lambasataḥ siṅho mṛgeṇa vinipātyate gajo vā sumahān mattaḥ sṛgālena nihanyate? ‘Can the deer bring low the lion with flowing mane? Can the jackal slay the mighty elephant in his wrath?’ In the Cārudatta [218] the darkness is happily described: sulabhaçaraṇam āçrayo bhayānāṁ: vanagahanaṁ timiraṁ ca tulyam eva ubhayam api hi rakṣyate ’ndhakāre: janayati yaç ca bhayāni yaç ca bhītaḥ. ‘Affording easy refuge, yet abodes of fear, the forest depths and darkness are akin; for the shadows guard alike him who feareth and him who causeth fear.’ More ambitious is a verse given in the Subhāṣitāvali: [219] kaṭhinahṛdaye muñca krodhaṁ sukhapratighātakam likhati divasaṁ yātaṁ yātaṁ Yamaḥ kila mānini vayasi taruṇe naitad yuktaṁ cale ca samāgame bhavati kalaho yāvat tāvad varaṁ subhage ratam. ‘Hard-hearted maiden, lay aside the anger that doth impede our joy; death entereth on his register every day as it goeth, disdainful one; not meet is this in thy tender youth, for love is fleeting; rather spend in love the time we lose in this quarrel.’ The simple figures of speech are freely used by Bhāsa, and he shows as usual a marked fondness for the accumulation of similar sounds, as in sajalajaladhara, sanīranīrada, or kuladayaṁ hanti madena nārī: kūladvayaṁ kṣubdhajalā nadīva. More interesting are instances of his power, which is specially manifest in the Svapnavāsavadattā and the Pratimānāṭaka, of expressing strong emotion adequately and forcibly. Thus we have the indignant upbraiding of Kaikeyī by the angry Bharata: [220] vayam ayaçasā cīreṇāryo nṛpo gṛhamṛtyunā pratataruditaiḥ kṛtsnāyodhyā mṛgaiḥ saha Lakṣmaṇaḥ dayitatanayāḥ çokenāmbāḥ snuṣādhvapariçramair dhig iti vacasā cogreṇātmā tvayā nanu yojitāḥ? ‘Hast thou not brought upon me disgrace and dishonour, on my noble father’s death at the hands of his dearest, on all Ayodhyā ceaseless lamentation, exile on Lakṣmaṇa, sorrow on the noble ladies, who love their children, for the cruel journey imposed on thy daughter-in-law, and on thyself the hateful reproach of a shameful deed?’ Equally effective is Lakṣmaṇa’s protest against Rāma’s acquiescence in his exclusion from the throne: [221] yadi na sahase rājño mohaṃ dhanuḥ spṛça mā dayā svajananibhṛtaḥ sarvo ’py evam mṛduḥ paribhūyate atha na rucitam muñca mām ahaṁ kṛtaniçcayo yuvatirahitaṁ kartuṁ lokaṁ yataç chalitā vayam.