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 68

INTRODUCTION
55 this topic are found in two verses of the Setubandha(13.39,65). Māgha also describes such scenes (18. 73-8), but some of his pictures are marred by a curious superstition that flames issue from the mouths of the howling jackals.
Kalidasa refers to the belief that a warrior who dies on the battlefield betakes himself to heaven and wins a nymph. In Raghu 7.51, for instance, we have the picture of a warrior, metamorphosed into a god and united with his celestial bride, watching his headless corpse dancing' on the battlefield?. In Setu 12. 67, while the warriors put on their armour on the eve of the battle, the nymphs adorn themselves in their celestial cars to receive their prospective lovers 3. In Māgha 17, 34 they do so on hearing the beat of the war drum, ready to accept those killed in the fighting. * Pravarasena says that as the battle raged nymphs were won at the cost of one's life, and heads bartered for fame (13.47). Māgha tells us that fame came to a dead warrior in this world, and a nymph in the next, both ever new and pleasing and ensuring eternal life in heaven (18. 62). While diverse poets give playful versions of this ancient belief,
1 The Parāśarasmyti, chap. 3, deals with the merit of dying on the battlefield, and
speaks of the rush of thousands of celestial damsels to marry the heroes killed in battle. The Harivamsa 2.31.24 (Cal. ed.) says that it is better for a woman to go without a husband than to have a hero for a husband, because the heroes are
beloved of the nymphs, and they too are fond of them, 2 The main idea of Kalidasa's verse is based on the Harivamsa which says in connection with a great battle fought at Puskara : JATIE ar: #f9T # Faq Fat :
tat : FARE: yra: F a th 11 3.122. 14, 15, Kalidasa gives another picture of heroes and nymphs in Raghu 7.53. 3 See also Setu 13-17, 20, 21. 4 See also Mágha 18-58-62. 5 Cf. arbat gat fa ITI TOTO walcyfram
15 ATE 3725T1377 377 317 at fact | Kuvalayamālā, p. 51.