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

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LILAVAT
different etymological sense and conventional meaning, but they serve practically the same purpose, namely, to divide a composition into convenient sections according to the requirements of the subject-matter for the convenience of the reciter, reader or hearer. An explanation of this form of the Lilāyati may be attempted here.
Bhāmaha's exclusion of ucсhvāsa division in the Kathā does presuppose Kathās without any divisions; and these might have influenced the form of Līlāvati which is called a Katha by the author himself. Further there are reasons to believe that long and short popular Kathās might have been current in Prākrit (and Apabhramsa). Some of their specimens are found included in Devendra's commentary on the Uttaradhyayana. But the learned writers, now and then, imitated Sanskrit models even in their Prakrit composition, and the Rāvanavaho or Setubandha' is a good illustration. The Gaüdavaho of Vakpati, however, does not show any divisions but contains only groups of verses according to the topic; but this cannot be easily quoted as a precedent for the author of the Lilavati, because its form is uncertain and there are different opinions whether it is complete or not. Uddyotana's Kuvalayamālā (779 A. D.) is a Katha* written in Campū style, in Präkrit. It is a voluminous work, as big as the Samarăiccakahā of Haribhadra. The very bulk of the text would induce one to expect some sections in this work. But, as far as I have examined its contents from the MSS., the entire Campū is one continuous composition without any Paricchedas etc. Its Sanskrit digest by Ratnaprabhasūri' (c. 14th century A. D.), however, is divided into four Prastāvas. The Tarangalola in Prākrit stanzas, numbering about 1642, is a digest of an earlier work Tararigavati of Pādalipta which is no more available. It is called a Katha. We have no idea about the form of the original poem; but the digest is one continuous poem without any sections to divide the subject matter. The Surasundaricariya? of Dnaneśvara (Sarnvat 1095 or 1038 A. D.), which also contains detached words like kim ca etc. to intro
1 H. Jacobi: Ausgewählte Erzälungen in Maharastri, Leipzig 1886. 2 Ed. S. Goldschmidt, Strassburg 1880. 3 Ed, S. P. Pandit, Bombay 1887. 4 There are two MSS. of it, one at Poona and the other at Jaisalmer. 5 Ed. Muni Chaturavijaya, Bhavanagar 1916. 6 M. Winternitz: A History of Indian Literature, II, 522. Lately it is pub
lished from Surat (Ahmedabad), Samvat 2000; it is a careless print of
illhandled material. 7 Ed. H. T. Sheth, Benares 1916.