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30
प्राकृतसर्वस्वम् ।
1042–43 A. C. except Vasantarāja, whose date ( 15th century ) is very uncertain.
ji ) Mk attributes to himself the authorship of a Saţtaka named Vilāsavatī and the same work is mentioned in the Sahitya-darpaņd by Viśvanātha of the 14th century.
As we shall see now, these arguments do not have any bearing on the date of Mk. For, according to NITTI Dorci herself, Mk quotes from the Rasagangadhara(RG). If the latter be true, Mk can never become earlier than the middle of the 17th century ( this being the earliest limit for the grammarian in that case ) since RG was composed about that time by Jagannātha. 15
As regards her second point of argument, the Vilāsavati mentioned in the Sāhitya Darpana is certainly different from that which Mk himself composed. For we learn from Sahitya Darpana that the Vilāsvati mentioned in it was a nātyarāsaka, whereas Mārkandeya's work was a sattaka. Visvanātha himself defines Sattaka ( SD VI. 276 ) and cites the Karpūramañjarī as its example, and then he defines the Nātyarāsaka ( 543) as an oneact play consisting of two or four junctures ( samdhi )16. and cites Vilāsavatī as a play of this kind having four junctures. We have already seen how works bearing
15 Vide S. K. De, Sankrit Poetics, Vol, I. p. 276. and also P. V. KANE, History of Sankrit Poetics, p. CXXXIII. 16 अथ नाट्यरासकम् - नाट्यरासकमेकाङ्क बहुताललयस्थिति ।
केचित् प्रतिमुखम् संघिमिह नेच्छन्ति केवलम् । संधिचतुष्टयवती यथा-विलासवती उदात्तनायकं तद्वत् पीठमर्दोपनायकम् । हास्योऽनयत्र सशृङ्गारो नारी वासकसज्जिका । मुखनिर्वहणे संधी लास्याङ्गानि दशापि च ।
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