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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
with the other nine avatâras of Vishnu, of his incarnation also as Râma, and of this hero's childhood, exile, contest with Ravana, &c., (exactly as in the Râmâyana); and then, after the return from Ceylon, the splendour of his reign is described (from v. 2343 onwards) in essentially the same fashion as in the episode of the sixteen ancient kings in the Mahabharata, Books VII. and XII., and consequently in similar harmony with the Râmâyana, I. 1, and VI. 113. The author states that he relies for his materials upon "ancient ballads" which treated of his subject (2352 gâthâs cha 'py atra gâyanti ye purânavido janâh | Râme nibaddhaḥ...). A very special testimony to the existence of the Ramayana is borne also by the second passage (8672-4), in which direct mention is made of a dramatic treatment (nâtakîkritam) of the râmâyanam mahakâvyam, without indeed connecting therewith the name of Valmiki, but with statements so definite as clearly to show that, so far as regards its main elements, our present text. of the Râmâyana existed even at that time, and already in its Vaishnava form. We are informed, namely, that the renowned actor, to the eulogising of whom the passage in question is devoted,* represents in a drama "the birth of the immeasurable Vishnu for the purpose of fulfilling his wish to put to death the prince of the Rakshasas. Lomapida (and) Dasaratha (in the drama) caused the great muni Rishyasriñga to be fetched, by means of Sântâ and the courtesans. Rama, Lakshmana, and Satrughna, Bharata Rishyasriñga and Sântâ were personated by actors characteristically dressed" (read kritâh' instead of 'kritaih'). A third passage occurs at the close (16232), where, among the verses that extol the sublimity of the Mahabharata we read "In the Veda, in the pure Râm â
The entire narrative in the passage in question is deeply interesting in its bearing upon the history of dramatic art in Indir. The same frenzied enthusiasm which celebrated actors awaken in our own day appears, from the narrative, to have been common in India also, with all its seductive allurements and effects on the female portion of the audience, &c.
No help in this direction is to be got from Panini (se Ind. Stud. 1. 147-148); but what about the Mahábhánhya I have been able to find nothing bearing on our subject in the portion of this work published by Ballantyne.
For there were several kings who bore the name S'adraka: cf. Rája-Tarangini, III. 845, and the notices in Bana, Dandin, Somadeva (Ind. Streifen, I. 354) Lassen, II. 509. In Is'varachandra Vidyasagara's essay on the "Marriage of Hindoo Widows," Calc. 1856, there is a passage (p. 63) quoted from the "chapter of prophecies in the Skanda Purána," according to which king S'ûdraka reigned 8290 years after the beginning of the Kali (8101 B. C.; corresponding therefore with 189 A.D.)
[AUGUST 2, 1872.
yana, in the Bharata, Hari's (praise) is everywhere sung, in the beginning, at the end, and in the middle;" the attributive punya shows the high estimation in which the work was held at the time when this concluding section was composed, though it may no doubt have been only a later addition. Eulogistic mention of Valmiki, associated with Vy â sa, and therefore most probably as the author of the Râmâyana, occurs also in v. 5-tal labhyate Vyâsavachaḥ pramânamı gitam cha Vâlmikimaharshinâ cha; and in v. 2285 Thou (O Áryâ !) art: sarasvati cha Bâlmîke(h!) smritir Dvaipâyane tatha."
:
The Vaishnava complexion of the greater part of these passages from the Mahabharata affords unmistakable evidence that they belong to a time in which the banner of the national gods had been raised in opposition to Buddhism. But whether they reach so far back as to the beginning of this period is, to say the least, doubtful; or rather we may say that there is no manner of doubt that it cannot have been the case with regard to those passages in which a fixed system of ten avatar as is assumed. Nor does the circumstance that the existence of a Harivansa in the sixth century seems to have been ascertained furnish any proof that the whole of what we at present find in the poem (which extends, as is well known, to 16374 slokas) actually belonged to it at that time.
We descend now from the region of the Epic which has always been regarded as sacred (punya), into that of profane literature. The earliest text of this nature in which the story of Râma is referred to in such a manner as to furnish certain evidence the existence of a Râmâyana is, so far as yet known,† the Mrichhakatik â, purporting to be the work of a king Sûdraka. It is true that the date of this work is also by no means definitely fixed; but so much at least is
twenty years before the Nandas (3310 Kali; therefore 209 A.D.) whom Chanakaya wished to destroy; while in the same passage Vikramaditya is assigned to the year 4000 Kali, corresponding to 899 A.D.!
trishu varshasahasreshu Kaler yateshu pârthiva | tris'ate cha das'anyûne hy asyâm bhuvi bhavishyati || S'adrako nama viranam adhipha siddhasattamah | nripan sarvan pâparapan vardhitan yo hanishyati ||| Charvitayam (?) samaradhya (worshipping the divinity at Charvita, Is'varachandra) lapsyste bhabha råpahaḥ tatas trishu sahasreshu das'adhikas'a atraye bhavishyam Nandarajyam cha Chanaky o yan hanishyati |
S'uklatirthe sarvapâpanirmuktim yo 'bhilapsyate || ta as trishu sabasreshu sahasrabhyadhikeshu cha bhavishyo Vikramadityo rajyam so 'tra pralapsyate The same passage had previously been quoted in the Asiatic Researches, IX. 107, from the Kumarikakânda of the Skanda Purdya; but it is remarked there that some MSS read 'araka instead of S'adraka.
