Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 127

JUNE, 1933)
RANDOM NOTES ON THE TRIVANDRUM PLAYS
115
parispanda to purus, and on Samkhyakariká, 10, defines sakriyam as parispandavat : similarly Kumarila in the Atmavdda section, 74 ff., of the Slokavárttika. The later Buddhist philosophers do the same ; e.g., Trimsika, p. 32, 1.21, celandya's citla parispandálmakatuit, and Abhidharmakosa, vol. V, 280, n. 2, parispandam akurvad api. These quotations prove that parispanda does not mean an actual deed, but a movement of the body or mind, activity or motion, kriya, as opposed to act, karma. Therefore when PR, Act ii, p. 32 (tr., I, 128), has drata parispandandria yodhapurnadnári karmáns, we must translate the deeds of the warriors whose activity has been witnessed.'
It is not justifiable to assign any meaning here to parispanda, which is not consistent with this range of meanings, but we are forced to do so if Karnapura is a proper name. But need it be so? It does not occur again in the DC, and if it were not for the later play, surely we should all construe, 'Oh, I am disappointed that I did not see (lit. by whom was not seen) the shaking of my mistress's ear-ornament, as she leant, etc.' He kills two birds with one stone, by implying, not only how much he has lost by his mistress's not seeing him, but also how excited she would have been to see him. This translation gives a more natural sense to yena and one might compare Pratimánátaka, iv, 22, yena.. na drstah. Sadraka's version, which spoils the point by reproducing the second intention only of the page, has also the same construction, rancidd si jde ajja kannauraassa parakkamo na dittho. Though there seems to me no reasonable doubt of the correctness of my rendering, the explanation is incomplete unless we can account for the change in the Macchakatika. It is perhaps significant that Avi., Act iii, p. 34, has the term kanndüraceda (MSS. kanneurao) for a 'harem servant and that kanneurassa is a variant reading of the passage under discussion. Possibly in Sû. draka's text of the DC kapnädrassa had been corrupted to karndüracasa, which might be understood as equivalent to kapndüraceda, and he may have objected to giving a courtesan's servant such a title and therefore turned it into a fanciful proper name. The Myochakatika does not always darken counsel as here, but is sometimes able to suggest a correction of the DC's text. Thus, following Filippo-Belloni (Festgabe Jacobi, 133), at Act iii, p. 57, where the MSS. offer the alternative readings, bhigyam and drastavyam, the two should be combined on the authority of the later play to bhdmisthan dravyam. Again at Act i, p. 18, Vasantasenå says it is specially dark by the side-door asambhoamalinadde, which can only mean 'because it is dirty (obscure ?) from lack of use.' Probably however it is corrupt, the phrase recurring in a more natural sense at Act iv, p. 84, and being transferred here by error. Sadraka has altered the sentence somewhat, but I infer from his reading that his text of the DC had asarjoamalinadáe, because it is dark where there is a break in the wall (for the door).' The wall would be white and the door would make a darker patch in the night.
The grandiloquent terms of the servant's speech suggest that the author is taking off a similar description in some bdvya, such as Saundarananda, vi, 2, 8d... gavaksam ikramya payodharábhyam .. harmyatalal lalambe mukhena tiryainatakundalena, or cf. Dhúrlavitasanudda, p. 5, 1. 11. Probably such a description was a commonplace in kavya and we can hardly identify any particular original now. It is the inappropriateness of such language in the servant's mouth that determines the tenor of the courtesan's reply. Vismaya means * arrogance,' and the sense is, Feather-beaded people soon get bumptious. What's the reason for your highfaluting (or bombast)?'
Ib., Act iii, 6. Sajjalaka defending theft says:
Kaman nicam idam vadantu vibudhah suptepu yad variate
vjóvastepu hi vañcaná paribhavaḥ sauryam na karkasyatd1 Saddhind vacanfyatápi tu varam baddho na seviñjalir
margas caiga narendrasu ptikavadhe purvari krto Draunind 11 T.,I, 91:
Let the wiseacres call it low, this business when folks are asleep, for the shame of cheating those that are trustful comes from daring, not cruelty. Independence though of ill