Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 47
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Previous | Next

Page 263
________________ OCTOBER, 1918] NOTES ON KÅLIDÅSA 247 are to personages that figure in Kalidasa's works. Of these the most significant is the reference to Dilipa and Raghu. Raghu is said to be the son of Dilipa and this relationship between the two rests solely on the authority of the Raghu-vanía; it is not affirmed by the Råmdyana or by the Purdņas. We may therefore reasonably conclude that Bâņa relies upon the Raghuvana when he makes Raghu the son of Dilipa. Thus this constitutes another and indirect reference to Kalidasa by Bâna. There are some other passages in the Harshacharita which may show that Bâņa is influenced, perhaps unconsciously, by Kalidasa's works. These passages are given below : (1) अपि च . . . भवादृशां जन्मग्रहणोपायः पितरौ । प्रजाभिस्तु बन्धुमन्ती राजानः। p. 158 Compare with this the following: - स पिता पितरस्तासां केवलं जन्महेतवः। ____Raghu. I.24. येन बेन विलुज्यन्ते प्रजाः स्निग्धेन बन्धुना । स स पापावृक्ष तासां दुष्यन्तः . . . . ॥ Sakuntala VI. (2) न च शक्नोमि दग्धस्व भर्तुरार्यपुत्रविरहिता रतिरिव निरर्यकान्प्रलापान्कर्तुम् | p. 167. May it be that Bâņa had in his mind Canto IV of the Kumarasambhava when he put these words in the mouth of Yasomati ? (3) अनार्वच तं मुक्त्वा . . . केषां मनससरस राजहंसा इव परशुरामपराक्रमस्मृतिकृतो न कुर्युरार्यगुणाः पक्षपातम् | p. 188. This reminds us of the following lines from the Meghadata : प्रालेयाद्रुपतटमतिक्रम्ब साँस्ताविशेषान हसबार भगुपतियशोवर्म बस्क्रीच्चरन्ध्रम् | तेनादीची दिशमनुसरेः . . . . . (4) देव न कचिकृताश्रयया मलिनवा म्लानतराः कोकिलवा काका इव कापुरुषा हतलक्ष्या विप्रलभ्यमानमात्मानं म चेतयन्ते| p. 190. The idea here may be traced to the following lines from the Sakuntala : प्रागन्तरिक्षगमनास्वमपत्यजात मन्यडिजः परभृताः खलु पोषयन्ति । (5) न च स्वमवृष्टनष्टेविय क्षणिकेषु शरीरेषु निबन्नन्ति बन्धुवुद्धि प्रबुद्धाः। p. 192. Compare with this: किमप्याहिंस्वस्तव चेन्मतोऽहं बशःशरीरे भव मे दयालुः । एकान्तविध्वंसिषु माविधानां पिण्डेबनास्था खलु भौतिकेषु॥ Raghu. II. 52. I now come to a predecessor of Bâņa. Generally Båna is supposed to be the earliest author who refers to Kalidasa. But there is a still earlier writer whose work contains references to Kalidasa. As will be seen later on, these references are indirect in the sense I have explained above. The writer I mean is Subandhu, the author of the romance Vasavadatta. He is believed to be a predecessor of Bâna. Dr. Satishachandra Vidyabhushan supposes him to be a contemporary of Bâņa. Without entering into a controversy on the point here, I may state that the grounds he advances do not appear to me to be conclusive and that I therefore associate myself with the scholars who hold that Subandhu preceded Bana.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386