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The Apabhram śa Poet Caturmukha
205
allowing himself to be influenced by the diction and meaningfulness of Caturmukha and Svayambhū,23 does not necessarily imply that Caturmukha and Svayambhū also had written each a Pañcamicarita. In view of what has been said in one of the opening laudatory stanzas in the manuscript of the Paumacariu, about the unsurpassaable excellence of Caturmukha's diction (sadda) and Svayambhū’s language (jihā), or alternatively, both word and sense, 24 this can also mean that Tribhuvana composed his work unifluenced by the poetic compositions in general of Caturmukha and Svayambhū.
21. No wonder the name of such a pioneer and eminent Apabhramsa poet continued to be respected and praised for many succeeding centuries. Svayambhū's and Tribhuvana's high appreciation of Caturmukha has been already referred to above.
It was a convention with Apabhramśa poets, onwards from Svayambhū, to include in the prologue to their compositions a list of eminent poets, scholars and authors that preceded them. The list, varying with the poet, usually contains such names as Vyāsa, Bharata, Bhāsa, Kālidāsa, Bāņa, Sri-harşa, Pingala, Dandin, Bhāmaha, Ravişeņa, Jinasena, Caturmukha, Svayambhū and Puspadanta with a few additions and omissions. Caturmukha (mostly in Company of Svayambhū and Puspadanta) has been remembered in this fashion25 in such Apabhramsa work as the Dhammaparikkha26 (987) of Harişeņa. Harivañsapurūna27 of Dhavala (c. 11th cent.), Sakalavidhinidhāna28 (18th cent.) of Nayanandin, Jambūsāmicariu29 (1020) of Vira, Rayanakarandu30 (1064) of Sricandra, Jiņadattacariul (1218) of Lākhū alias Lakkhaņa, Suloyaņācariu32 of Devasena (12th or 13th cent.), Vāhuvalicariu33 (1398) of Dhanapāla. We have seen that some of these speak about Caturmukha in superlatives. If luck favours us some day with the discovery of any manuscripts of Caturmukha's works, it will be indeed a great day in the history of Apabhramsa studies.
Notes 1. Raghavan, V., 'Prākṣta works known from Bhoja's Sțăgár
aprakāśa', Siddha-Bhārati, Part II, 1950, 206; Ramkrishna
