Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 591

Himavant was not shakable, while the Kailasa mountain was. This is how he put the mountain to shame.
:
Raghu. 4.72 reads as saŝamsa tulyasattvānāṁ sainyaghose' py asambhramam/guhāśayānām sirihānām parivṛtyävalokitam //
2.
Mallinatha takes avalokitam to be the subject (kart) and asambhramam to be the object in the above sentence. He takes sams- to mean to tell' and hence is required to supply another object 'army' (Safarisa kathayamasa/ 'sainyebby' ity arthal labhyate). Accordingly the stanza is understood by interpreters who follow Mallinatha to convey the following meaning: In spite of the din created by Raghu's army the lions' looking back by turning their necks conveyed to (the army of Raghu) the absence of any agitation of their minds (antaḥkṣobhavirahitatvam).
This interpretation, though grammatically possible, is extremely unlikely in the context. For, in almost all the stanzas starting from 28, either Raghu himself is the subject or something is told about him. In very few stanzas where this is not the case something is reported either about his soldiers (30, 42, 53, 55, 65, 74), or about the elephants in his army (47, 48. 57, 76), or his horses (56, 67). Hence it is not likely that in an isolated stanza the poet would choose to make the lions the subject and not Raghu. This is avoided if we understand that it is Raghu who is the subject of Sasamsa and that Sams means 'to praise, to admire'. The stanza would then mean that Raghu praised the undisturbed looking back of the lions in spite of the din created by his army.
According to the infromation supplied in some of the editions of the text, the interpretation suggested above is, in fact, adopted by some commentators. One of them, Dinakara, for example says: prakaraṇāt sa ity adhyahriyate/sa Raghuh... asambhramarh sadhairyar yatha tatha parivṛtyävalokanaṁ ŝaśamsästauşit. This interpretation is definitely to be preferred to the one given by Mallinatha for the reason stated above. 3. Two possible variant readings in canto 2.
।। अमृतमन्दाकिनी ॥
Madhu Vidya/566
१४७