Setubandha

SR No.: 001384
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1976
Total Pages: 812
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English & Literature
File Size: 14 MB

Page 61

INTRODUCTION
the general outline and sequence of the principal events described in the Yuddhakanda, Pravarasena concentrates on selected episodes, and writes an independent Kavya on the early career of Rāma. Nevertheless his close dependence upon the Rāmāyaṇa is manifest in the treatment of many of the leading topics in the Setubandha. A striking example of this is provided by the utterances of Rāma as he lies on the battlefield, pierced by the arrows of Meghanāda. In the Setubandha the plaint is particularly impressive because of its brevity and deep pathos (14.43-48); but it looks like a condensation of some of the most affecting lines in the comprehensive lament of Rāma in the corresponding portion of the Rāmāyaṇa (6.39).
It may also be noted that the word anurāga used in the concluding verse of each Canto of the Setubandha seems to be suggested by the Rāmāyaṇa. Pravarasena uses it in a variety of allied senses such as devotion, loyalty, affection, also enthusiasm (7.71; 12,98; 13.99; 14.84). The word is frequently used in the Rāmāyaṇa which, for instance, speaks of the valour and devotion of Lakşmaņa (6.100.3); and declares that the servant who carries cut an arduous task set by the master out of loyalty or devotion to him is the best of men (6.1.7).
Pravarasena is familiar with the Southern mountain system referred to in the Rāmāyaṇa. In this connection his mention of the Vindhya range in Setu 1.54 needs comment. In the Rāmāyaṇa Rāma's expedition starts from Kişkindhā, which is identified by Pargiter with the region around Bellary, with the Tungabhadrā and Vedavåti for its chief rivers? In our poem, on the other hand, the Vānara hosts marching to the sea first
1 Also ibid. 5. 33, 21; 63. 3 etc. 2 Pargiter, The Geography of Rāma's Exile, JRAS, 1894, p. 257.