Assumes the splendour of a pearl (iii. 61).
It is perhaps natural that poetry with a strong pessimistic colouring should contain many bitter sayings about women and their character. Here is an example of how they are often described:—
The love of women but a moment lasts.
Like colours of the dawn or evening red;
Their aims are crooked like a river’s course;
Inconstant are they as the lightning flash;
Like serpents, they deserve no confidence (Kathās. xxxvii. 143).
At the same time there are several passages in which female character is represented in a more favourable light, and others sing the praise of faithful wives.
Here, too, we meet with many pithy sayings about the misery of poverty and the degradation of servitude; while the power of money to invest the worthless man with the appearance of every talent and virtue is described with bitter irony and scathing sarcasm.
As might be expected, true knowledge receives frequent and high appreciation in Sanskrit ethical poetry. It is compared with a rich treasure which cannot be divided among relations, which no thief can steal, and which is never diminished by being imparted to others. Contempt, on the other hand, is poured on pedantry and spurious learning. Those who have read many books, without understanding their sense, are likened to an ass laden with sandal wood, who feels only the weight, but knows nothing of the value of his burden.