Indian Antiquary Vol 42

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

Page 245

August, 1913.)
INDIAN INSCRIPTIONS AND THE KAVYA
233
alluding to the sdra of the three mountains, we cannot but suppose that in the first place he knew all the myths in question and in the second place that the comparisons of kings with these mountains were in vague then ; for otherwise the expression in question would have been quite unintelligible to the hearer. The comparisons involved in the epitlets in the next lines 3-4 are some of them so familiar that it is unnecessary to demonstrate their occurrence in the kdoyas. This is the case, for instance, with the phrase divasakara-kara-vibodhita-kamala-vimala-sadisa-tadanasa, whose face Tese mbles a spotless lotus which the sun's rays hare awakened (from the nocturnal sleep)', of which we should only nenark that the use of the word lara, which also means band,' is not unintentional. Equally commonplace is the comparison in patipuna-chada-madala-sasirika-piya-dasanasa whose appearance is lovely and lustrous like the disc of the full moon. What is, of course, meant is that the face of the king shines like the full moon. But as the face has buon spoken of tefore, the author uses dasana for radana and thus varies somewhat the usual idea. Lastly, no examples are 1.ecessary for varaváranavikamachdruvikamasa, whose gait is beautiful like that of a lordly elephant,' and bhujagapatibhogapenavatavipuladighasudarabhujasa, whose arms strong, round, massive, long and beautiful like the coils of the prince of serpents. With regard to the last epithet it must be observed, in the meanwhile, that the author has taken great troubles to give a new
unusual form to the old comparison of the arm of a Warrior with a serpent, already very usual in the *opics. For this purpose, he mentions the serpent prince Sesba instead of some other favourite
serpent, and piles together a number of adjectives. Tle first of these things is often done by court poets: e. g., in Raghurashsa XIV. 81, Kalidasa describes Rams as Sarpddhirdjorubhuja. Sonewhat more rare is the absurd notion in li-samuda-toya-pita-vdhanasa 'whose armies drink the water of the three oceans,' though sanctioned by the usage of Indian poets. Similar expressions are now and then met with in panegyrims and prasastis, with a view to suggest that the victorious armies have proased forward to the shores of the ocean. A rhetorician remarks that the water of the ocean would never be drunk. But nevertheless the poets very frequently use expressions like the one above, which, therefore, cannot be looked upon as involving a breach of auchitya.70
The following lines contain nothing tseful for our purpose. Their object is to represent Så takani as a ruler who lived up to the rules of Nftisastra. On the other hand, the short epithets in l. 7 remind us of several passages in the descrictions of beroes and heroines by Bâna who also frequently interrupts the long-winded compounds and the tiring rows of comparisons, in quite a similar manner, and now and then makes use of similar expressions in such cases. The rightness of what we say will be best shown by placing this part of the inscription side by side with a passage, in Bana's Kadambarî, from the description of the king Sudrakal:
भागमान निलयस सपुरिसान भसयस सिरीव अधि-। कर्ता महाधर्माणामाहा कसूनामावः सर्वशास्त्राणाम ठानस उपचारान पभवस एककुसस एकधनुधरस एकसु-स्पत्तिः कुलानां कुलभवनं गुणानामागमः काष्यामृतरसारस एकबम्हणस।
नामुदयोलो मित्रमण्डलस्थोत्पातके तुरहितजनस्य प्रवर्तबिता गोष्टीवन्धानामाश्रयो रसिकाना प्रत्यादेशो धनुष्मतां
धौरेयः साहसिकानाममणीविदग्धानाम् । of course Båna's expressions are much more choice, and they show a considerable advance in the development of the style. Nevertheless, a certain similarity is unmistakable and the reason why simpler epithets are inserted in the midst of more complicate ones is no doubt the same in both the cases. In l. 8, we meet with two long compounds which compare Så takaņi with the beroes of Mahabharata as well as with the kings of yore described in that work:-'Whose bravery was similar to that of Rama (Halabhșit), Kesava, Arjuna and Bhimasena,' and 'whose lastre resembled that of Nâbhâge, Nahusha, Jananejaya, Samkara, Yaya ti, Râma (of the Raghu race) and Ambarisha.' Further these two compounds are separa ted, certainly not without intention, by another epithet inserted between them. Comparisons with the kings of epic tales are as a rule used by Subandha and Bara, in the descriptions of their heroes, wbo, however, work them out in a for finer way. They bring out the similarity in particular points by means of a slesha on every
10 See, for instance, the Udepur prabanti verso 10; Ef. Ind., p. 234. The name of the rhetorician I bar. unfortunately not noted. 11 Kadambart p. 5, 1. 12-16; compare also Kadambart p. 56, 1. 7-8