Kuvalayamala Part 2

SR No.: 002778
Original Sutra Author: Udyotansuri
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 368
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 12 MB

Page 148

INTRODUCTION
109
As to the gist of the above verses, Siddharși composed the Balavabodhini Vrtti on the Upadesamālā; and he was obviously proud of it. But his guru-bhrātā (both Uddyotana and Siddharși being presumed to have been the pupils of Haribhadra), Dākṣiṇyacandra, who had composed his Kuvalayamālā full of erotic sentiment, laughed at his new literary feat. He incidentally referred to the Samarádityacarita (of Haribhadra) which is so much flooded with flavour that its readers would forget their hunger and thirst (while reading this sastra), and also to his own (Kuvalayamālā-) Kathā, quite worthy for its contents and flavours. He derided Siddharṣi's performance as a scribe's stuff. Siddharși was quite modest about his poetic gifts as compared with those of Haribhadra; but this worked as an inner challenge, and he composed consequently his Upamitibhava-prapañcā kathā. Then the Samgha gave him a title of vyākhyātṛ. That Siddharşi was a contemporary pupil of Haribhadra is a myth exploded long back.1 Prabhācandra's statement that Siddharṣi (906 A.D.) and Uddyotana (779 A.D.) were contemporaries is an anecdote devoid of any historical foundation.2 The Kuvalayamālā is the only work of Uddyotana so far known to us. The references like the above clearly show that very few Acāryas seem to have read the whole of it. Very few authors like Guṇapala (c. 11th century A.D.), Amradeva (1134 A.D.) show some acquaintance with it.* The dakkhinhaimdha is misunderstood both by Devendra (A.D. 1103) and Prabhācandra (1277 A.D.). The Mss. of it are few, so far known, only two. After Ratnaprabha prepared its Sanskrit Digest, very few authors appear to have touched the Prakrit original. There is no wonder, therefore, that what were just characters in a religious and diadactic romance came to be looked upon as Religious Heroes, great Saints of yore in flesh and blood who attained liberation after practising penances (see Notes on 280.17, the details about Pañca-ārādhanā-prakaraṇa). For Prabhacandra, Dākṣinyacandra was just a title and his Kuvalayamālā had a little romantic hallo with the result that he put both Uddyotana and Siddharși as contemporaries of Haribhadra.
6
After studying the various aspects of the Kuvalayamālā, quite a clear-cut personality of Uddyotana as a man of letters stands before us. His aim is to elevate man to his highest spiritual height by eleminating the baser elements in him and by cultivating the more sublime qualities. Man's baser instincts are anger, vanity, deceit, greed and infatuation; and if they are not kept under proper restraint, they run amuck to his ruin and also to that of humanistic qualities so needed for an orderly and balanced society. This basic problem is handled by Uddyotana in this Dharmakathā. The characters which Uddyotana
1 Siddharși calls Haribhadra me dharma-bodhakaro guruḥ, because, as he puts it, Haribhadra wrote (even before Siddharși was born) his Lalitavistara that it may prove to be for the benefit of Siddharsi. See H. JACOBI: Introduction, p. i, Samaraiccakahā, B. I. No. 169, Vol. L, Calcutta 1926.
2 Such disclosures only indicate that one should not take these tales as historical without additional and corroborative evidence.
3 See Notes at the end on 1.2-18, 4.13-14, 5.27. etc.
4 See above, Intro. p. 95, Amradeva's use of the tale Māyāditya.
5 Intro. p. 19, footnote 4, above.
6 See the verse No. 89 quoted above from the Prabhavakacarita.