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 64

INTRODUCTION
ALL-ROUND SATISFACTION AND QUEEN'S DREAM INTERPRETED: Returning from the temple, the king took his meals in a happy atmosphere; and then he conveyed to his ministers the details of the boon received by him, to their great satisfaction. He went thereafter to the apartment of the queen who, on hearing about the boon, received it as a great blessing. The happy day passed, and there followed the evening and moonlit night (graphically described 15.26-16.5). Early in the morning, the queen woke up after seeing in her dream the Moon clung to by a garland of highly fragrant lilies (kuvalaya-mālā); and when she modestly conveyed the same to the king, he assured her that this was quite in consonance with the boon of the Deity and that she has conceived a son. She considered herself highly blessed. The king entered the assembly attended by many: mantrin, mahānarendra, mahāvīra, mahāvaidya, mahābrāhmaṇa, mahākavi mahāsenāpati and mahāpurohita. There were courtezans, some reciting in Prakrit. some in Sanskrit, some knowing Apabhramśa and many others skilled in different branches of knowledge (the list is interesting 16.23 f.): in that assembly all the kalā, kautuka and vijñāna were represented. The expert decision on the inter pretation of the dream was that the queen, as blessed by the divine boon, wil have a great son and that the kuvalayamālā represents his beloved attached to him from an earlier life (Pages 15.15-17.7; *6.39- *7.25).
A PRINCE BORN and DULY NAMED KUVALAYACANDRA: Carrying the child and living in a happy atmosphere, the queen grew in her grace more and more and her longings of pregnancy were more than fulfilled to her satisfaction. The effects of the growing child were apparent on her body (17.16 f.); and at a highly auspicious moment, she delivered a fine male child. The palace was flushed with manifold festive talks (described § 44). A blooming maiden broke the happy news to the king and received rich presents from him. There was a royal directive for the celebration of birth-festivities which were duly carried out with great eclat and entertainments (described 18.11-31). Ordered by the king, the Astrologer interpreted the planetary influence etc. at the moment of the prince's birth and prophesied (from the astronomical data) that the prince would become either an Emperor or an Emperor-like king. On a specific enquiry from the king, the astrologer enumerates the rasis (zodiac signs) and gives their gunas (fruits, consequences) in the context of the birth (details given, 19.12 f.) on the authority of Vamgala-jāyaga of Vamgala-risi. The king duly honoured the astrologer, and enjoyed drinks (described 20.28 f.) and meals. So the days passed. On the 12th day he decided, in consultation with mahā-brāhmaṇas, that the prince should be significantly called Kuvalayacandra, and also by a second name Śrīdatta (Pages 17.8-21.6; *7.25- * 8.28).
PRINCE'S EDUCATION: Fondled by five maids, the prince gradually grew making all happy by his activities of childhood. When he was eight years old, he was duly entrusted to a lekhācārya under whom he lived in a lonely place, not visited even by his parents, and mastered various arts till he was twelve. After finishing the course, the teacher led him to the king who heartily welcomed him, with all the more joy, on learning that the prince was so gifted by nature that hardly any instruction was necessary for him. The teacher enumerated the seventy-two kalās (22.1-10) already mastered by the prince and also those in