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afterwards attained. When the inherent excellence of these compositions is remembered, I think it must further be granted that the second of these alternatives is equivalent to saying that Kalidasa was either a contemporary of our author, or was his elder by little more than a generation. This is an hypothesis to which I shall recur after offering remarks on the last of the works to which Båņa refers :--
समुद्दीपितकन्दर्पा कृतगौरीप्रसाधना ।*
हरलीलेव नो कस्य विस्मयाय बृहत्कथा । Soma deva, the author of the Kath d-8 arit-s âgara (about the beginning of the 12th century), and Kshe mendra, the author of a Vrihatkat ha (the second and third quarters of the 11th century), both tell us that their works are abridgments and translations into Sanskrit of the Vțihatkatha of Gun d dh ya. This last work has not yet been foundt extant. For long the only evidence that it had ever existed was Somadeva's assertion, which was, however, it may be pointed out in passing, clearly entitled in itself to greater weight than scholars like Wilson, Brockhaus and Lassen were disposed to attach to it. If there is one matter more than another in which the personal statement of an author deserves implicit credence, it is surely where we find him acknowledging his indebtedness to an earlier work, which he could have had no conceivable notice for inventing. Wilson was misled by the unmistakable signs of relationship between certain tales in the Katha-sarit-sdgara and independent works which it was impossible to place later than Somadeva. As Weber first pointed out,
• The noto here is : बृहत्कथा कस्य न विस्मयायापि तु सर्वस्यैव गर्वविनाशाय भवतीत्यर्थः अद्भुतकथावर्णनाद्वा आश्चर्याय समुद्दीपितो वृद्धि नीत: कंदर्पो यस्यां कामजननानां बहूनां वृत्तांतानां वर्णनात् उद्बोधितः स्मरो ययति वा काव्यसेवया हि शृंगाररसः समुद्भवति तथा चोकं
ऋतुमाल्यालंकारप्रियजनगांधर्वकाव्यसेवाभिः।
उपवनगमनविहारैः शृंगाररसः समुद्भवति ॥ यद्वा समुद्दीपितः प्रकाशितः ख्याति नीतः कंदो नरवाहनदत्तो यस्यामिति स हि कामांश इत्यागमः कृतं गौर्य विद्याभेदस्याराधनं यस्यां सा हि नरवाहनदत्तेनेशारूपाराधितति यदा गौरी प्रति पूरयति गौरीप्रसाधनं परिकरबंधः यथा प्रस्तारो यस्य गौरीप्रेरितेन हि हरेण तया तस्यां परिकरबंधः कृतो यथा सातीव पिप्रिये हरलीलापि समुत् सहर्षा दग्धकामा च कृतं गौर्याः प्रसाधनं मंडनं यस्यां व कामं प्रति तादृग्द्वेषः क्व च कांतां प्रति प्रसाधनामिात कृत्वा विस्मयमाश्चर्यम्.
+ I had written that the original Vrihatkhatha of Gunadhya, in the Paisacha dialect "was not extant," but, as these sheets are passing through the press I learn from Bhandarkar that word of the existence of a copy has been brought to him, and that he hopes soon to secure it. 1 Indischen Streifon, Vol. I., p. 358.
