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OCTOBER, 1989
to an honourable place among the great poets of classical India. At one place he has most aptly indicated his ideal of great poetry. It is to be resplendent with the figures of sound and sense, to have a delicate diction, harbour many sentiments and flavours', flow evenly with excellent sense, display numerous arts and sciences, illustrate the wealth of grammar and metres and be inspired by the sacred canon. The best of Apabhramsa literature appears to have attempted to realize this poetic ideal but probably none succeeded as much as Puspadanta.
The Carita-Kavya after Puspadanta
After Puspadanta, we get numerous carita-kāvyas in the sandhi form, but most of them are known so far only from manuscripts. Of the few published, the Bhavaisattakahā of Dhanapala (probably before the 12th century A.D.) is the most important. This poem too is a parva-kathā in twenty-two cantos. It recounts in a relatively simple style the romantic story of Bhavisyadatta to illustrate the fruits of observing a fast on śrutapañacami or jñanapañcami which falls on the fifth of Kartika. The story tells us of a merchant's son Bhavisyadatta, who, along with his mother, was discarded for no reason by his father, who then married another wife. When grown up, once he went on a voyage in the company of his younger step-brother, who befrauded and deserted him twice over on a lonely island. But ultimately, thanks to his mother's observing the fast of śrutapañcami, all his woes and difficulties came to an end, he rose to the crest of fortune and for helping the king defeat an agressor was rewarded with a share in the kingom. Having died he underwent a few more births and eventually in his fourth birth he attained ominscience by virtue of having observed the śrutapañcami fast.
Dhanapala's Bhavisattakahā had at least two models before : Tribhuvana's Pañcamicariya in Apabhramsa and Mahesvara's Nānapañcamikahā in Prakrit. After Dhanapala we have Sridhara's Apabhramsa poem Bhavisayattacariya (Sk. Bhavisyadattacarita) in six cantos, completed in 1174 A. D. and still unpublished.
The Karakanducariya of Kanakamara treats in ten cantos the life story of a Pratyeka Buddhas (self-enlightened saint). The story of Karakandu figures also in the Buddhist literature.
Paumasiricariya (Sk. Padmašricarita) of Dhahila (before the 12th century A.D.) illustrates in four cantos the evil fruits of deceitful acts by narrating the story of Padmasri in successive births.
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