Operation In Search of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Mumbai Circle 1

SR No.: 007578
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: P Piterson
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society
Publication Year: 1883
Total Pages: 275
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Catalogue
File Size: 115 MB

Page 253

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वर्तनव यद्वा शूद्रत्वे सात द्विजादिवर्णाश्रयेण स्वजात्युचितस्य स्वभावस्य त्य
कुमशक्यत्वाद्भावप्रकटनमवश्यमेव । भवति यतो बंधः शृंखलादिकृतो ग्रंथिस्तचिह्न त्वदूषणादि
The reference to the Akhyâyikâkârâs, with which Bana begins his enumeration of poets presumably nearer his own time than Vyâsa, is extremely interesting in view of the question of the origin of Kadambari. In later books on Rhetoric, the Akhyâyîkî is defined as resembling the Kathậ, with the difference that the genealogy of the poet, and sometimes an account of other poets, are given. And the Harsha Charita, which has very obviously suggested the definition, is given as an example of the class. When, for the better understanding of this definition we turn back to the description of Kathâ, we find that species of composition distinguished as a narration in prose, with here and there a stray verse or two, of matter already existing in a metrical form.* The existing collections of metrical fables, such as the Kathasarit sågar a of Soma deva and the Vļihat kath & of Kshemendra are later than Bâņa by several centuries; but Hall and Bühlert have shown that implicit confidence is due to Somadeva's and Kshemendra's statements to the effect that their books are translations into Sanskrit and abridgments of an older work. I shall show in the sequel that the Kathâ-sarit-sagara contains one form of the original of Bâna's Katha Kadambari : and, when we bear in mind that Kadambari is given as the stock example of a Kathå, it is clear that by Akhyâyikâ in the present passage Bâna refers to metrical stories, such as furnished him with the theme of his own romance.
The poets next mentioned by name, or singly, are-(1), the author of & Vâsavadatta; (2), Bhattâraharichandra; (3), Satavahana; (4), Pravarasena, or, perhaps, the author of a work in praise of Pravarasena; (5), Bhâsa ; (6), Kalidasa; (7), the author of a Vșihatkathâ. I do not take A dhyardja in the verse that follows as a proper name. Before examining our list in detail, it may be well to ask how we are to regard the list itself. It it be fair to judge from a casual note, I it would
* The otherwise praiseworthy translation of the Sahityadarpana by Pramada data-mitra in the Bibl. Ind. is defective here. The text is :
कथायां सरसं वस्तु पद्यैरेव विनिर्मितं क्वचिदत्र भवेदार्या क्वचिद्वक्त्रापवक्त्रके
आदौ पचैनमस्कारः खलादेर्नकीर्तनम्, This, it is obvious, does not mean “In the Katha, which is one of the species of poetical composition in prose, a poetical matter is represented in verse, and, sometimes," &c., but rather as I have given the sense above. + Hall loc. cit., pp. 22-24. Bühler, Ind. Ant., Vol. I., p. 302.
"In Bâna's Harsha Charita, Introd. v. 15, Bhåsa is lauded on account of his dramas: indeed his name is even put before that of Kalidasa."--Note on p. 205 of English translation of Indian Literature.