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Prakrit and Apabhramsa Studies
Several verses from this lost work are cited by Svayambhu (latter half of the 9th cent.) in his Svayambhucchandas (SC.). The citation given under SC. IV 11 as an illustration of the Bahurūpā variety of the Apabhramśa metre called Matra is as follows:
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देइ पाली थणहं पब्भारें
तोडेपिणु णलिणिदल, हरि - विओअ-संतावें तत्ती । फलु अण्णेहिं पावि (य) ङ, करउ दहउ जं किंपि रुच्च ॥
'Pali, burning with pain due to separation from Hari, plucks a lotus leaf and places it on the slope of her breasts. The poor fool(?) got her due! Let the fate (now) do whatever it choses to.'
Like Velankar, I also earlier interpreted Pāli as gopālikā i.e. a gopi in general. But in the light of the occurrences noted below, I now take it to be a personal name. We must note that another verse from the same poem (SC. IV 10.2) describes Radha as Hari's most favourite Gopi and several other verses of Govinda (SC. IV 9.1., 9.2, 9.4) depict the mood of a love-lorn girl.1
2.
Bhejjala's Radha-vipralambha (prior to the 11th cent.
A. D.).
Rasakanka was one of the types of uparupakas described, discussed or referred to by several Sanskrit dramaturgists and other writers. Bhoja and Abhinavagupta knew of an actual instance of Rāsakanka, namely the Radha-vipralambha, composed by Bhejjala.2 They refer to a few incidents and characters in that dramatic work and also give a few citations from it. Besides Kṛṣṇa as the hero, Candrayana as the Vidūṣaka and Radha as the heroine, the play had one more female character named Palitaka, who was one of Kṛṣṇa's paramours and Radha's rival. Kṛṣṇa is depicted as once favouring Palitaka on a moon-lit night, which makes the pining Radha go out in search of Kṛṣṇa.3 Abhinavagupta, too, mentions Pālitakā.
3. Jayavallabha's anthology of Prakrit subhāṣitas has sixteen verses in its section on Kṛṣṇa (vv. 590-605), which are pertinent to our purpose, because there are several references to Krsna's
