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story by introducing various scenes and incidents which are described by him faithfully and artistically. For a fuller summary of the poem, I refer the reader to the Sanskrit table of contents. (pages 1-16). VII. THE POET.
I shall now make an attempt to give some account of the poet, from available sources.
(1) Date and contemporaries:-According to Râjatarangin i Dâmodara Gupta was a minister of king Jayâpida, and the following poets and learned men were his contemporaries
i Kshira Pandit-A grammarian, author of the Dhâtupâtha and various grammatical treatises on Pâņins. Under him Jayâpida studied Patanjali's Mahâbhâshya.
ii Bhatta Udbhata-The author of Udbhatâlankâra a work on poetics.
iii Manoratha-A poet some of whose verses are quoted by Kshemendra in his Auchitya Vichara Charcha.
iv Vâmana-The author of the Alankara Sutras and joint author of Kâsika Vritti on Panini's Ashtadhyayee.
povi-vii. Sankhadatta, Chataka and Sandhimân were poets at the court of Jayâpida, but nothing more than their names is known to us.*
According to Balhana's Chronology, Jayâpida reigned from 751 to 782 A.D. but modern research finds this chronology faulty, and points to the conclusion that Jayapida reigned from about 779 to 813 A. D. (Cf. Introduction to Rajatarangint by Stein) and so we may say that our author also flourished about this period.
*क्षीराभिधाच्छब्दविद्योपाध्यायात्संभृतश्रुतः। दुषः सह ययो वृद्धि स जयापीड पण्डितः ।। ४८९ ॥
विद्वान्दीनारलक्षेण प्रत्यहं कृतवेतनः । भट्टोऽभूदुद्भटस्तस्य भूमिमतुः समापतिः ।। ४९५ ॥ स दामोदरगुप्ताख्यं कुट्टनीमतकारिणम् । कवि कवि बलिरिव धुर्य धीसचिवं व्यधात् ।। ४९६ ।। मनोरथः शाखदत्तश्चटकः सन्धिमांस्तथा । बभूवुः कवयस्तस्य वामनायाश्च मंत्रिण ॥ ४९७ ॥राज०४ वरमः।
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
