The rhetoricians[35] extol the merits of Kālidāsa in metaphor, and they repeatedly cite his skill in the use of figures of speech, sound and thought, which they divide and subdivide in endless variety. He excels in vivid description (svabhāvokti) as when he depicts the flight of the antelope which Duḥṣanta pursues to the hermitage:
grīvābhan̄gābhirāmam muhur anupatati syandane baddhadṛṣṭiḥ
paçcārdhena praviṣṭaḥ çarapatanabhayād bhūyasā pūrvakāyam
darbhair ardhāvalīḍhaiḥ çramavivṛtamukhabhraṅçibhiḥ kīrṇavartmā
paçyodagraplutatvād viyati bahutaraṁ stokam urvyāṁ prayāti.
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‘His glance fixed on the chariot, ever and anon he leaps up, gracefully bending his neck; through fear of the arrow’s fall he draws ever his hinder part into the front of his body; he strews his path with the grass, half chewed, which drops from his mouth opened in weariness; so much aloft he bounds that he runs rather in the air than on earth.’ Inferential knowledge is illustrated by a brilliant stanza:[36]
çāntam idam āçramapadaṁ sphurati ca bāhuḥ phalam ihāsya
atha vā bhavitavyānāṁ dvārāṇi bhavanti sarvatra.
‘This is the hermitage where all desires are stilled; yet my arm throbs; how can here be found the fruit of such a presage? Nay, the doors of fate are ever open.’ The rôle of conscience in human action is finely portrayed:[37]