Indian Antiquary Vol 04

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 94

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCH, 1875.
But in two days be died. Then they bethought I have not seen Pandit Vidyasagar's Discourse, themselves of worshipping him. But others ob which is in Bengali. But Mr. Narayana Iyangår jected that unless he rose from the dead he has kindly sent me a translation of the Pandit's recould not be held to be a god to be worshipped. marks on these coincidences. He appears to hold So they waited and were duly rewarded. For that the Siva Purdņa probably borrowed these they tell me, from a hole hard by came forth a | lines from Kálidåsa, and not vice versa. He bases fine ndga exactly like the deceased, and when it this opinion principally on the style of the lines, was said he must have a consort, two ndgans as compared with other parts of the Purana. He followed him out in succession. Then they began adds also: "I conceive that a considerable portion to collect money to build the present shrine, of what are known by the name of Puranas are which is still unfinished, not having a roof over not old (prdchina). Unless, therefore, implicit conit. It resembles a wide squat chimney, and con- fidence can be placed on the Puranas, it is difficult tains, besides a live cobra wrapped in a blue cloth, to believe that the Siva Purana is.older than Vi. a red-daubed stone said to resemble the hood of a kramaditya'st time." And he proceeds to point cobra, which appears to be the actual object of out further that stanza 39 of the fourth canto of the worship, and a small pan for fire. This inner Kumara Sambhava also occurs in the Yogavasishshrine is being encircled by four stone walls which tha. are at present only breast-high. On its south- Now in the discussion of the questions to which west corner was lying an earthen representation these coincidences give rise, it would be of im. of the hood, coloured red, and much more like portance to know the context in which the lines the original than the stone in the inner shrine. quoted occur in the Siva Purdna. Especially is it This shrine, though new, appears to be of great 80 with regard to the last two lines; for in vach of virtue, to judge from the number of strings which them we have only one half of a stanza, and what are hang on a horizontal rod above it, being --like the other is in the Siva Purana does not appear. a large heap of cocoanuts in one corner-the votive But having obtained a copy of this Siva Purana, I offerings of persons who have been cured of some am in a position to point to another circumstance pain, not necessarily snake bite, on vowing to visit of moment in the inquiry. Not one of the lines the shrine, and tying one of these strings round above quoted is to be found in this copy,-- which the place affected in token thereof.
belongs to the library of the Bombay Branch of C. E. G. CRAWFORD. the Royal Asiatic Society. Unluckily, I have as Camp, Khas, 31st January 1875.
yet failed to procure another copy. But the absence
of the lines even in this one is enough to cast KÅLIDÅSA AND ŚRI HARSHA.
suspicion on their genuineness. It will be observed, In my article on Kalidasa, Sri Harsha,
too, from the extracts to be given presently, that
this copy contains lines corresponding to some of and Chand (Ind. Ant. vol. III. p. 81), I referred
those quoted above, and to the same effect. And to a verse quoted by Sri Harsha from Kali.
this affords some guarantee that the other lines d&sa, and inferred from it the chronological
have not been omitted in this copy by inadvertence priority of the latter to the former. With regard
or the like. to this, Mr. B. Nariyana Iyangår, writing from
The last line of the 9th chapter of the Siva Shimogå, has been kind enough to draw my atten
Purana, which, if any, ought to contain the lines tion, in & private letter, to the circumstance mentioned by Pandit Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, in
above set out, says t ते सर्वे च मिलित्वा ते ब्रह्माणं शरणं his Sanskrit Language and Literature, that the
Prat: and the 10th chapter opens thus:following lines, which occur in the Kumdra Samb
॥तें सर्वे च तदा गत्वा ब्रह्माणं शरणं गताः॥ hava of Kalidasa, also occur in the Siva Purana:तदिच्छामि* विभो स्रष्टुं सेनान्यं तस्य शान्तये॥
॥ नमस्कृत्य गतास्तत्र नम्रीभूता ऋषीश्वराः॥ **ier 2 4999: || Kumdra, II. 51.
॥ तान्विषण्णान्सुरान्दृष्ट्वा ब्रह्मोवाच पितामहः॥ og fafcenfura || Kumdra, II. 23. ॥यूयमत्र कथं प्राप्ताः किं दुःखं भवतामिह ।। faite #6 ER Bhar411 Kumdra, II. 55. ॥ तदहं स्फोटयाम्यद्य यदि साध्यं भवेन्मम॥ Mr. Naravana Iyangår states that these lines occur in the 14th chaptur of the Uttara Khanda of the
|| TEETH ET 16T: 45*4: || Siva Purana.
|| 991: 91: 19 CHE || • Sic in Mr. B. N. Iyangår's letter. Our copies of the Kalidiss flourished in the time of Vikramaditya. Kumdra hare इच्छामो.
It may be mentioned that in the following lines some | Pandit VidyanAgar seems from this to maintain that obvious corrections have been made.