Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 126

114
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JUNE, 1933
Bhuje Balasydyatapinabahor
vaiduryakeyūra iva babháse || That it is put into the mouth of the Vidûşaka shows that Bhåsa is criticizing (with justice, be it said) Ašvaghoşa's comparison as a frigid conceit. This verse contains the word dyata twice and, as the translation shows, we want in the SV some word meaning 'long,' outstretched,' to make the comparison clear. Further pasddia° (prasddita) seems to me very odd in the context, and I think therefore that Ganapati Sastri was on the right lines when he gave prasdrita as the cháyd for pasdia in the original edition. Only his text wants correc. tion to pasaridao; this is the word always used for outstretched arms. The curious position of the participle in the compound may well have puzzled the copyistand led to an emendation.
Bhasa refers quite clearly twice elsewhere to Asvaghosa's poems, viz., at PY, I, 18, to Buddhacarita, xiii, 60 (of. Saundarananda, xvi, 97), as pointed out by Ganapati Sastri, and in the well-known verse quoted from the SV by Abhinavagupta, the place of which has now been determined (Thomas, JRAS, 1928, 887 ff.), to Buddhacarita, i, 79, as pointed out by Morgenstierne (Über das Verhältnis zwischen Carudatta und Mechakatid, p. 14, n. 2). The latter comparison proves that tadanena is correct in the Bhasa verse, for it=Ašvaghora's radena, the exact meaning of which I shall discuss in the edition of the Buddhacarita which I hope to bring out in due course. There are several passages in the other plays, particu. larly in the DC, which recall Asvaghosa, but the ideas and forms of oxpression are found too often elsewhere to be safe evidence of direct allusion to the Buddhist poet.
This passage of the SV illustrates Bhåsa's fondness for subtle allusion and shows that he relied on the education and quick wits of his audience to take up the point at once. Another, not obvious, joke is to be found at the beginning of Act iv, p. 29 (tr., I, 51), when the Viduşaka says he is so well off in the palace of the king of Magadha that he might be experiencing all the joys of anaccharasamviso Uttarakuruváso. It is true that the land of the Uttarakurus is an earthly paradise, famed for its pleasures of the table and of love, but the jester has mixed up his mythology. The Apsarases live among the gods in Paradise, not among the Uttarakurus, who have their own special women.
Daridracârudatta, Act ii, p. 45. Cetah - Ham, vippaladdho hmi, váddananikkhamidapuvvakade onamia paoharde kannaúrassa paripphando ajjude jena na dittho.
Ganika - Lahujanassa sulaho vihmao. kim de usseassa karanan. Tr., I, p. 88. Page.--Oh, I am so disappointed that my mistress did not see Karna
pära's valiant deed. If only she had seen, leaning forward
from the casement with bobom bowed ... Courtesan.--Feather-headed people are easily amazed. What is the
cause of your excitement ? This translation follows the indication afforded by the Macchakafikd, which gives the page's name as Karnapura, but seems to me to miss the point. In the first place the meaning 'valiant deed' for parispanda is based on a passage in the Parcarátra, which I explain below, and is opposed to the regular use of the word. As it is not adequately dealt with in the dictionaries, a few quotations of its use may be made. It is specially used in philosophical works, replacing the earlier vispanda, which means 'activity,' movement. The latter is only found in Buddhist sources, o.g., in Pali, Digha, I, 40, paritasitavipphanditan, Atthasdlini, 323, and Visuddhimagga, 448, kayavipphandana, and in Buddhist Sanskrit, Buddhacarita, xiv, 22, karmabhih .. cittavis pandasambhavaih, Jatakamála v 18. mabuddhivispanda. samdhitena .. karmand, and xxvi, 40, manovákladyavispandoul, Satasahasrıkåprajña páramitá, 67, sarvasattracittacaritavispanditàni, malamadhyamakaldrikás, 307, 1. 10, vispandah tariracepta. The MBh. substitutes niepanda for it at xii, 12704 and 12780. Later parispanda took its place and is used as a synonym for kriye in the Vaibesika sense, but limited to the mental or physical motion of an individual. Thus Vacaspati Miśra on Yogasitra, i, 9, denies