Lilavai

SR No.: 002796
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1966
Total Pages: 500
Language: Sanskrit, Hindi, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 15 MB

Page 497

LILĀVAI
tion of the Sinhalese treatise Saya bas-lakara, is known about the time which is reasonable for the Lilavati, viz. cinca 800 A.D.; however, it is clear that beyond slight historical echoes and sidelights, there is no more historical material in the poem which is built up as an emboxed multi-themed romance planned closely after Bana's Kadambari.
The author of the Lilavati is indeed a gifted poet, belonging to the galaxy of front-rank artists of the creative period of Sanskrit and Prakrit poetry. He cannot, of course, hep echoing here and there Kālidāsa, Bāņa or other celebrated writers, but he is endowed with a powerful imagination which has worked some very original and striking fancies in the descriptive portions, and a felicity of expression, ease, flow and sweetness, which is evident all through, in the few long-compounded passages two of which are in antādi-prasa, or in the bulk of the writing which is in simple single-worded diction. The Prakrit vocabulary, as the poet himself says, is not surcharged with Desi impeding clarity and quick understanding. The poet has before him Bana and borrows also from the Mahākavya models of Bharavi and Magha for a metrical composition, but, refreshingly enough, sets his ideal in brevity: the poem itself does not go beyond a thousand and quarter couplets; the descriptive slices are short, and here as well as in the narrative portions, there is movement. The humour of the poet is seen in the pictures drawn while the King's camp was on the nove (1104 ff). Memorable subhäşitas occur all over the work; not the least noteworthy among them is the last word of the poet to his audience: "The goodly ones will see only the merits and carping ones only the flaws; let me have the common readers, who by steering clear of these extremes can see the true worth of my poetry." (1332).
Early works are valuable for a study of the cultural background; and one interested may glean the many sidelights thrown by the present poem on arts like painting, music, dance, varities of Katha, decorative, design-drawing on floor or body, polity, religion, The site of Drakaşarama, Saptagodavari Bhima, is described as a Saiva centre. Code-dialect within one's group is referred to (126); the dogs of Saurashtra are mentioned as a renowned breed (1142); the Rashtrakutas and Solankis are mentioned (1068).
etc.
Dr. Upadhye is always known for thoroughness of work; his introductions are always elaborate going into not only the main problems, but allied topics also; his presentation of Prakrit texts is always accompanied by a linguistic study and a complete index of the vocabulary of the work. An English account and summary of the story. and detailed notes are also included.
In the last, which are very useful and relate to some of the important and interesting points in the text, the following call for some observations: the term "viddha' in 102 and 823 does not mean old or experienced (vrddha?); 'viddha' refers to a category of painting as the reviewer has pointed out elsewhere. In 278, alapti is a technical term of music. In 438, the rhetoric requires 'paścima' and not 'apaścima' and though the reading with 'paścima' has a redundant api the sense required is "in the west" and by Slesa, "in the last stage." The suggestion of kapola-pāśa made by the editor more than once lacks the support of usage. 607 does not seem to be in Galitaka metre, which as shown elsewhere by the undersigned and as the very Haima citation made by the Editor here means, requires rhymed feet. In 769, the verb 'samudvahati' need not be emended into 'samullasati; all that is necessary is to take the adjectival expression 'anusadṛśam' in an abstract sense, anusadṛśyam, which is not uncommon in usage. 'Uditodita' in 845 is not a proper name as the Editor doubts probably misled by the wrong meaning given in the commentary; it means 'possessed of virtues enumerated in texts,' 'well-established', 'learned', or 'cultured'. (Yaj. Smrti 1.13.313). There are no notes on 756, 906 and 1970 which contain difficulties. ["Hindu", Madras, 6th July 52].
V. RAGHAVAN.