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JUNE, 1913.1
INDIAN INSCRIPTIONS AND THE KAVYA
177
It is obvious that the short compounds marked 8 and 7 are to serve as resting points, and that the rhythm in 1, 2 and 4, is to remind us of the beginnings of the Dandakas.
In Harishena's poetical imagery, we come across many conceptions that are very familiarly met with in the kávya literature. Some of these have been already dwelt upon, while discussing the concluding part of his composition. We now notice a few others. The fragment of verse 3 says :
• The order of the possessor39 of the true meaning of the Sastras whose heart is higbly happy at the association with the good,-multiplied as its power is, by the virtues of the wise-pats an end to the war between good poetry and prosperity and thus enjoys in the world of the learned, a far-extending sovereignty whose shining glory endures in many poems.
Here we have the exceedingly favourite allegory of the fight or discord between the Muse and the Goddess of wealth, which condemns the poet and the learned man to poverty and makes the rich incapable of service to Wisdom and Art. By way of comparison, I quote here from the classical literature only the Bharatavákya at the end of the Vikramorusi, where Kalidasa prays that this antagonism should cease :
परस्परविरोधिन्योरकसंश्रवदुर्लभम् |
संगतं श्रीसरस्वत्योभूतयेस्तु सदा सताम् ।। May the union of the mutually hostile goddesses Sri and Sarasvati, which is to be found only rarely in one place, bring good luck to the good !'
Farther, the author mentions in verse 8, which will be given get more fully later on, amongst the high excellences of the king. Tia : aiz: agat: the fame sprouting forth, shining purely like the moon' and thus bears evidence to his being aware of the well-known idea of the kirtivalů or the creeper of fame, which covers over the three worlds with its tendrils. With this may be compared in the field of classical literature, Sárngadhara-paddhati, No. 1235.
A third most favourite poetic representation of fame is met with in the second compound in 1. 23, referring to Samudragupta : Whose fame arising from the re-establishment of many fallen kingdoms and of many extinguished royal races, is tired by its journey through the three worlds.' Hemachandra also in the prasasti to his grammar, verse 29, similarly speaks of the want of rest for his master's fame :40
यहोर्मेण्डलकुण्डलीकृतधनुर्दण्डेन सिद्धाधिप क्रीतं वैरिकुलावया बलत्कुण्डावदातं यशः। भान्स्वा बीणि जगन्ति खेदविवशं तन्मालवीनां व्यधा
दापाण्डो स्तनमण्डले च धवले गण्डस्थलेवास्थातिम् ।। • With the bow bent into a circular form by your arm stretched round, you won, oh king Siddha, your fame that shines whitely like the blooming flower of the jasmin; being rendered helpless through the exbaustion of wandering through the three worlds, that your fame has at last rested itself on the palid, round breasts and the white cheeks of the Malava women.'
In 1, 25, again, we have quite an origical conception which is meant to illustrate how far Samudragupta's glory obscured that of all his rivals. The post there praises Samudragupta as a ruler who, in consequence of the overflow of his many virtues elevated through hundreds of good works, wiped off with his feet the fame of other kings.
The idea seems to be that the leaves, on which the fame of other kings is written, lie before Samudragupta. The flow of his virtues streams over them, and he is only required to stir his foot, to obliterate the praisen of the rulers of antiquity. I cannot point out anything in literature, which exactly corresponds to this. Nevertheless, it cannot escape the attention of any one, that the conception quite fits in with the character of the style of court-poets.
In the next line (26), we meet with a comparison which occurs frequently in the epics and which is used in later times by almost every classical poet and in every prasasti-where Samadre gupta is celebrated as a king who resembles Dhanada, Varuņa, Indra and Antaka, i.e., the guardien-gods of the four directions.' Equally favourite is the immediately following Upama : • who puts to shame the preceptor of gods by his sharp and subtle understanding, and Tumburu, Nirada and others, by his lovely performances of music. About the comparison of the king with
39 1. e. of Samudragapta. • Ot. also the verse quoted above on p. 175 from Rajendrakarnapura. , +1 In the second line, two letters seem to be wanting between yer and -V. S. G.
12 As it appears to me this passage presumes the use of the colour asnally prepared from soot and gum Arabia in old times, which was used for writing on palm leaves. As the Horinsi-M9. shows. The oldest full desoripo tion of suoh MSS. oan bo had from the different pages of Subandhu's Vasavadatta.
