________________
Sāra, A-sara, Sam-sära
147
the joy of the play, so that even ascetics cherish the desire to become absorbed in it."
(Edgerton)
(4-1-4) The plighted word is called the sāra :
Samsāre 'sāratāsāre vācā sāra-samuccayah
vācā vicalită yasya sukrtaṁ tena hāritam || (Vikramacarita Brief Recention of 24, p. 183, lines 20-21)
"In this wholly unprofitable round of existence (a plighted) word is the only thing of importance. Whosoever breaks his word loses his acquired merit.".
(Edgerton)
(4-1-5) Renunciation is recommended. He who seeks vainly after sāra in samsāra is betrayed and resorts to detachment (vairāgya), renouncing the world :
Saṁsāram eva nihsāram drstvā sāra-didrksayā |
pravrajanty akrtodvāhāh paraṁ vairāgyam āsritāḥ || (Nāradaparivrājaka Upanisad 3. O. Schrader ed., p. 139, lines 2-3)
"Seeing that samsāra is truly without substance, people are imbued with intense detachment and desirous of seeing the substance, renounce while they are still unmarried." (Olivelle)
(4-2) Though the following passages do not contain the word sāra as such, what is meant there has a similar purport.
(4-2-1) Corresponding to (4-1-2) above, which praises the enjoyment of women, we have a verse in the Malatīmādhava, where the hero condemns a murderer of Mālatī, considering his beloved as if sāra. We notice that in the case of Bhavabhūti the tone is much more serious than Vikramāditya !
Asāram samsāras parimușita-ratnam tribhuvanam | nirālokam lokam marana-saranam bāndhava-janam ||
adarpaṁ kandarpam jana-nayana-nirmāņam aphalam jagaj jīrņāranyaṁ katham asi vidhātum vyavasitah ||
(Mālatīmādhava 5.30)
