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INTRODUCTION
53
The poet was at first reluctant to take up the proposal as he was very much depressed at that time and thought that the age of poetry was gone, but after a good deal of persuasion he agreed to commence the work. Even in the middle of his undertaking the poet was once more in depressed mood when the goddess in a dream asked him to wake up and finish his labours. In the introduction to his Tisatthimahāpurisaguņālamkāra Puşpadanta mentions a long list of well-known literary figures which were his predecessors. I give below the passage in full ---
अकलंक-कविल-कणयर-मयाई दिय-सुगय-पुरंदर-णयसयाई। दंतिलविसाहिलुद्धारियाई
उ णायई भरहवियारियाई । णउ पीयई पायंजलजलाई
इइहासपुराणई णिम्मलाई। भावाहिउ भारहभासि वासु
कोहलु कोमलगिरु कालिदासु । चउमुहु सयंभु सिरिहरिसु दोणु णालोइउ कह ईसाणु बाणु । णउ धाउण लिंगु ण गण समासु णउ कम्मु करणु किरियाविसेसु । णउ संधि ण कारउ पयसमत्ति
णउ जाणिय मई एक वि विहत्ति । णउ बुज्झिर आयमु सद्दधामु
सिद्धंतु धवल जयधवल णामु। पडु रुद्दडु जडणिण्णासयार
परियच्छिउ णालंकारसार । पिंगलपत्थारु समुद्दि पडिउ
ण कयाइ महारइ चित्ति चडिउ । जसइंधु सिंधु कल्लोलसित्तु
ण कलाकोसल हियवद णिहित्तु । In addition to those mentioned in the passage above he mentions a few more persons prominent amongst them being Pravarasena, the author of Setubandha.
It appears that Puspadanta completed his Mahápurāpa during the life-time of Bharata. After Bharata's death the poet continued to enjoy the favour of Nanna, Bharata's son, under whose patronage he composed his two other works known to us. It appears that besides these three he composed a few more works prior to his arrival at Manyakheţa; at any rate one such work in praise of Vīrarāja seems to have been alluded to in the lines already quoted above, but is probably lost.
As regards the date of Puşpadanta we have the following evidence in his works : (i) The mention of his predecessors, particularly of Rudrata whose date is fixed by Mr. P. V. Kane of Bombay and Dr. S. K De of Dacca to lie between 800 and 850 A. D; (ii) the reference to the death of the Cola king in the war waged by Subhaturiga or Tudiga or Krsnaraja III, which event, in my opinion, took place at about 940 A.D.; (iii) the mention of the name of the year Siddhartha ( of the Saka era ) in which he commenced his Mahāpurāņa, and of Krodhana of the same era in which he completed it, which, in my opinion, are 959 A. D.; and 965 A. D.; for I think Puspadanta commenced his work in the same Siddhartha year in which Somadeva completed his Yaśastilaka which year is 881 of the Saka era, i. e. 959 A. D.; (iv) mention by the poet in a verse of the plunder of Manyakheța by Harsadeva of Dhārā which event took place about the year 1029 of the Vikrama era.i.e,972 A.D.in thereign of Khottigadeva, the successor of Krşnarāja III. The terminus a quo therefore would be the date of Rudrata, say 850 A. D., and the terminus ad quem, the plunder of Manyakheta in the year 972 A. D. Now within these limits the Siddhartha Samvatsara of the Saka era would occur in 899 A. D. and 959 A. D.; but of these two years we cannot accept the first as the defeat of the Cola king by a Ráştrakūta king could not have been effected before 940 A. D., the probable year of the accession of Krsnaraja III. In fact the event took place, according to V. Smith, in the year 949 A. D. We there
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