Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 70

3. THE STORY OF YASODHARA AND ITS SOURCES
in the course of his long and bitter tirade against women, tries to discover the cause of the queen's strange infatuation with the deformed elephantdriver, and attributes it to his melodious singing. He says: "The preceptors declare singing to be the greatest of the arts. A well-sung song makes even a man, wretched by nature, the resort of the eyes of young women as of their minds. A singer, though ugly in appearance, is more beautiful in the eyes of women than even the god of love. Even women, not easily visible, are deeply attracted by song, as if dragged by a halter. Singing done by expert singers does away with the obstinate pride of proud women, and produces in them an anguish that cannot be remedied by others." This at least partially explains the queen's undignified passion for a paramour of humble station.
Further, it is apparent from the words put in the mouth of Amṛtamati, after the discovery of her infidelity, that her married life was an unhappy one, and she had come to Yasodhara as an unwilling bride. This seems to be the meaning of her assertion that Yasodhara and others like him can only be the masters of the bodies of their wives, sold to them by their parents in the presence of the gods, the Brahmanas, and the Fire, but not of their hearts: the lord of one's heart is he who is the object of one's undivided love, 'the haven of confidence.' Less cogent is her appeal to the example of certain wives of legend, who, it is hinted, acted like her, the reference being to the relations of Ganga with Siva, of Radha with Kṛṣṇa, of Tara, wife of Bṛhaspati, with the Moon-god, and of Tara, wife of Sugrīva, with Vali. The appeal to antiquity reminds one of that in the nurse's speech in the Hippolytus of Euripides (vv. 451 sq.), and does not improve Amṛtamati's case; it is rather an admission of her moral weakness. It is, however, certain that Amṛtamati was thoroughly disgusted with her married life with Yasodhara. As she says, there is nothing in the world which men of fortitude cannot do except the reawakening of love in a heart filled with disgust: who can, indeed, unite two hearts that are like two iron balls, the one hot and the other
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1 ' गृणन्ति च कलासु गीतस्यैव परं महिमानमुपाध्यायाः । सुप्रयुक्तं हि गीतं स्वभावदुर्भगमपि नरं करोति युवतीनां नयनमनोविश्रामस्थानम् । भवति कुरूपोऽपि गायनः कामदेवादपि कामिनीनां प्रियदर्शनः । गानेन हि दुर्दर्शा अपि योषितः पाशेनाकृष्टा इव सुतरां संगच्छन्ते । कुशलैः कृतप्रयोगं हि गेयमपनीय मानग्रहमपरमेव कंचिदनन्यजनसाध्यafaya nafastar Book IV, p. 55. The idea goes as far back as the Yajurveda. Cf. Taittiriyasamhita VI. 1. 6: .
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2 'कुलवधूनां यमन्यश्च देवद्विजाग्निसमक्षं मातापितृविक्रीतस्य कायस्यैव भवतीश्वरः न मनसः । तस्य पुनः स एव स्वामी यत्रायमसाधारणः प्रवर्तते परं विश्रम्भविश्रमाश्रयः प्रणयः ।' Ibid, p. 141.
3 ' महासत्त्वेषु हि जगति न किंचिदुष्करमस्ति अन्यत्र विरक्ते चेतसि रागप्रत्यानयनात् । को हि नामायःपिण्ड इव तप्ततप्ते मनसी संधातुमर्हति ।' Ibid, p. 142.