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INTRODUCTION
49
by the well-side and on the river-banks. The various seasons with their flora and fauna supply the necessary back-ground, as well as refreshing flavour. The family life of a simple and unsophisticated village folk is seen in its different colours, though mostly with respect to their love affairs. The current of eroticism is so strong in this anthology that the commentators force it out even from a slight suggestion, if not from nowhere. Now and then we get glimpses of the town and court life; and that is inevitable, because some of the gåthås have come from the pens of kings and their court poets. The collection is rich in maxims and popular sayings, and sheds good deal of light on the customs and conventions in the contemporary society. There are allusions to deities like Siva, Pārvati, Gauri, Ganapati, Visņu, Lakşmi etc. and to mythological events from the epics. The references to Vindhya and Narmadā, Sahya and Godā go to indicate the locality of the composition of most of these verses. The rivers, countries and mountains from Northern India do not figure conspicuously : that shows that this anthology had its origin in the Deccan in general and in Maharastra in particular.
The text of this anthology has come down to us in half a dozen recensions which differ in the number and arrangement of verses. There are some 430 verses common to all the recensions, and they can be looked upon as the oldest substratum of the anthology. The very nature of the subject matter and its treatment admit any number of verses at any place, and it is quite evident from different recensions that there has been extensive interpolation all along. It is imaginable that it was originally a Gahākoso, an anthology of găthās attributed to different authors but selected from a larger number and re-edited or refashioned for the taste of a cultured audience. Lately Professor Mirashi has shown how some royal poets have contributed gāthās to this collection as late as the 8th century A. D., and how it received the title Saptašati, instead of-kosa, sometime after the 9th century. It is suggested by Shri S. V. Sohoni, I. C. S. (J. Bihar R. S., XLI, part ii, 1955, pp. 229 ff.) that Kālidāsa refers to Häla and his poetry by slesa in the verse hälām etc. from the Meghadūta (I. 49). Further he points out how certain expressions of sentiment, description of nature and even allusions to Siva's married life in the Kumārasambhava, Meghadūta and Řtusamhāra of Kalidasa can be directly related to some verses in the Gāthā--saptašati. He has noted certain parallels. It seems that Kālidāsa is almost quoting in the UttaraMegha 49 by the use of Xhuh certain views already expressed by Hāla.
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