Indian Antiquary Vol 42

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 149

MAT, 1913.)
INDIAN INSCRIPTIONS AND THE KAVYA.
141
Narada and other beings of antiquity. According to verse 81, prayers are offered to the Sun in the morning, by the Siddhas, gods, Chiranas, Gandharvas, Någas, Yâtadhanas, Sâdhyas and princes amongst sages, by each in his own peculiar way. So also, the Súryatataka often dwells on the thought that the Sun nourishes the gods and the world, thought already suggested by the Vedic name of the Sun-deity, vit., Pashan-and that he makes them free from the bonds of transmigration (re-birth). As for this latter point, verse 9 says of the Sun's rays that they are
the boats which carry men through the fearful ocean of existence, the source of great sufferings. Further, the Sun's orb is described in verse 80, as the boat for the yogins across the ocean of existence', and in verse 73, as the door of the liberated.' So also the Sun is depicted with Bpecial fulnegs as the nourishor of men and gods and as the maintainer of the entire order of the world (verse 87). The same thought is more briefly expressed in verse 77, where the sun's orb is named 'the life-principle of the world'. It may be further added that in the older Varahamihira also we meet with the thoughts expressed in the beginning of our prasasti. Thus in the first verse of the Brihat-sahhitd, the Sun is invoked as the generator of the world' And as the goal of the Universe', and in the first verse of the Yoga-ydird, as the soul of em bodied beings', and as the door of liberation '.
The third verse of the mangala : :
8. May the illuminator (Vivamat) protect you, adorned with the beautiful or Daments of rays,-the god whose circle of rays shines forth daily, coming over from the bigb, expansive summit of the mountain of the East, and who is lovely like the cheek of an intoxicated woman 9 compares the reddish morning-son with the reddened cheeks of a drunk Ndyika. This conparison is quite characteristic of the court-poets, who are never tired of describing or alluding to the revels of their heroes with their wives in the barem. Even in the kávya literature, this comparison is very often found used in connection with the rising as well as the setting Sun of the day. Thus, for instance, Bâņa says in the beginning of a description of the evening: 'when the day went down, the day whose light became as soft as the cheek of a Mâlava Woman, reddened with the intoxication of wine, etc.' (Harshacharita p. 212). Bâņa's comparison is somewhat more nicely brought out than that of Vatsabhatti, owing to the use of the term Mâlava woman in place of the general expression Angandjana. The later poets make use of specific expressions, almost everywhere.
The following verses (4-6) describe the emigration of the silk-weavers from Láta, the middle Gujarat, to Dasapura, wherewith short descriptions of Lata and of the environs of the city are interwoven. These do not rise above the level of mediocrity and bave nothing remarkable. Of course, Dasapura, as we commonly see the cities described in the kavyas, is called the beauty-mark (tilaka) on the forehead of the province, and this province also, which is named bhúmi, the earth, is imagined to be a female. Accordingly the trees bending under the burden of flowers are spoken of as her ear-crests, and the thousands of mountains, as her ornaments. So also as befits the kdoya style, the mountains are spoken of ag trickling with the juice fowing from the temples of wild elephants. The same remarks also apply to the next verses (7-9), in which further the lakes and gardens of Dasapura are spoken of. The description contains only the most usual expressions that are found used in kdrya in a similar connection. The lakes are full of blooming water-lilies, and lively with ducks and swans. The water near their banks is variegated with the flowers fullen from the trees. The swans therein are tawny-brown owing to the pollen fallen from the lotuses shaken by the fickle waves. The trees bending under the burden of their flowers, the humming of the bees bold with the intoxication of honey, and the incessant singing of the city-women walking for pleasure, make the groves lovely. It is to be noticed here that the description of the bees no doubt reminds us through dhvani of the bold