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Siddhasena Divakara and Vikramaditya
directly be ascertained. When scrutinizing the poem for indications re the time of its composition, and thus the period in history in which this mysterious patron lived, one feels inclined to ask whether contemporaneousness with Kalidasa might not be inferred from a number of ideas and expressions which the Dvātrimśikā has in common with the works of that poet.' 120 If Kālidāsa belongs to the Gupta period, as is assumed now-a-days by the majority of scholars, this would fit in well with the fact that the poem under discussion also agrees in certain points of style and diction with the poetical Gupta Prasastis available so far, such as Hariṣena's Allahabad Pillar Inscription, the Eran Pillar Inscription, the Udayagiri Cave Inscription, the Meharauli Inscription, the Jūnāgaḍha Rock Inscription and later imitations. There are, e.g., the stereotyped ideas of the eulogized king's fame pervading the universe, or, personified, roaming over the earth111, of the king himself perceived as a god ( Indra )122, or as gaining untold fame by his good qualities123, or as conquering the world by the latter, trespassing on the realm of the gods, as expressed in the following singnificant words:
" गुणजितं लोकं मत्वा नरेन्द्र सुरायसे" ( St. 10 ) 124
This passage, on the other hand, obviously cannot be separated from legends on Gupta coins like the following: ( क ) राजाधिराजः पृथिवीमवित्वा दिवं जयत्यप्रतिवार्यवीर्यः । (Samudragupta )125
(ख) अप्रतिरथो विजित्य क्षितिं सुचरितैर्दिवं जयति ।
(ग) काचो गामवजित्य दिवं कर्मभिरुत्तमैर्जयति ।
143
(Samudragupta )126
(Kacha )127
(a) fafa49facı yakàftå gufa famuifte: 1 (Candragupta, II )128
(ङ) गुणेशो महीतलं जयति कुमार । ( sic ! )
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(च) गामवजित्य सुचरितैः कुमारगुप्तो दिवं जयति ।
(Kumāragupta, I )129
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(Kumāragupta, I )130
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