Nag Kumar Charita

Author(s): Pushpadant Mahakavi
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 7

GENERAL EDITORIAL Puspadanta was a gifted poet of mediaeval India : a veritable model of learning and self-respect. He was neglected, if not humiliated, by his erstwhile royal patron, some Bhairava of Saiva faith; so, in sheer disgust and in a highly pathetic condition, both in mind and body, he reached, after a long and trying journey, Manyakheta, the Rastrakuta capital. The then king was Kssnaraya alias Vallabharaya. That was a golden age for literature in Karnataka; and it is but natural that Puspadanta's poetic muse became fruitful under the patronage of the minister Bharata and his son Nanna; and we owe to him three epical poems in Apabhrama : Mahapuranu, Nayakumaracariu and Jasaharacariu. Puspadanta gives plenty of biographical details about himself and about his patrons, etc. in Manyakheta. It is at Bharata's request that he began composing the Mahapuranu, his magnum opus, in the Sid. dhartha year and completed it, after six years, in the Krodhana year, corresponding to June 11, 965 A. D. It was in this very Siddhartha year, i. e., in 959 A. D. that Somadeva completed his Yasastilaka when Krsnaraja was celebrating his southern victories at Melpati. Puspadanta was a witness to the destruction of Manyakheta, where he was so well patronised and where he pursued his literary career with such a success, at the hands of the Paramara ruler, Harsadeva of Dhara, some time before 972 A. D. 1. Though Puspadanta passed through adverse circumstances before he composed these three works, he has been quite lucky so far as publication-and-critical-editing of his works is concerned, soon after their Mss. fell into the hands of modern scholars. As a youngster, closely associated with the editors of these works, I may take the liberty of looking back on the progress of studies on Puspadanta. A good deal of initiative was taken by the late Pt. Nathuram Premi. Dr. P. L Vaidya inherited from H. Jacobi the contagious inspiration for Apabhraiba studies and brought it to India from Europe from where he had lately returned. In the meanwhile, through the efforts of now Dr) Hiralal Jain, the Karanja Mss. were brought to light in the Catalogue of Sanskrit and Prakrit Mss. in the Central Provinces and Berar by R. B. Hiralal (Nagpur 1926 ). This veritable Ratnatraya ( Premi, Vaidya and Hiralal) bestowed on Puspadanta ( shall I say ) an abiding release from oblivion by bringing to light all his works. Dr. P. L. Vaidya, Poona, critically edited the Jasaharacariu in 1931; Dr. H. L. Jain, Amraoti, brought out his critical edition of the Nayakumara. cariu, along with his exhaustive study of it in its Introduction, in 1933: both of these works were printed in Poona and published in the Karanja Granthamalas, indicating how both of them were working in close collaboration. Later on, Dr. Vaidya took up the critical edition of the Mahapuranu, the biggest of the three works, for the Manikachandra D. J. Granthamala looked after by Nathuram Premiji; and there appeared the Vol. I in 1937, Vol. II in 1940 and Vol. III in 1941, all P.P.AC. Gunratnasuri M.S. Jun Gun Aaradhak Trust