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Last in this passage comes the poet Ådhyartija or Ådyaraja, of whom nothing else appears to be known, and who is, I suspect, as much the fruit of a misapprehension as the Chaura of v. 5. Here Bina' says that the brave deeds of famous kings are in his heart, well remembered, but that on that very account, strange as it may seem (19), his tongue cannot sing forth their praises, being drawn back into his throat by the very recollection of his subject. Nevertheless, he will attempt to speak in prose of the deeds of Harsha, &c. There may be an intentional ambiguity in ûdhyaraja (ådyarâja) as referring both to'kings of song' and to kings of the earth: but I doubt if the supposed reference to a poct called by that name has any foundation.
I must be content with little more than a reference to other works that were either written by Bana, or have been ascribed to him. The Oh and i k d-data ka is a century of verses in honour of Chandika, which is referred to by certain Jain commentators on the Bhakt å marastotra of u anatunga, and a copy of which was discovered by Bühler.* That scholar has acutely pointed out a line in this composition which, as frequently happens, is in all probability the sole foundation for the ridiculous story of the Jain commentators with regard to its origin. The tradition, however, as handed down by these commentators, may, it is considered, preserve this much of sober fact, that the Chandik dia tak a of Bảna, the Sar y a-s a ta ka of May úr a, and the Bh a k t â marastotra of Manatung a are three opposing poems written by devotees of one or other of the great forms of religion which flourished side by side under Harsha's protection.t
In the third volume of the Indian Antiquary (p. 219), Telang has called attention to the close resemblance in subject matter, and occasionally even in expression between a drama styled Parvat iparinaya, which is ascribed to Båņa, and parts of Kalidasa's Kum dras a m bh a v a. Telang "does not venture to ascribe the Parvatipariņaya to Kalidasa": and has considerable hesitation in accepting even as possible what he regards apparently as the only alternative, namely, that the author of the play took Kalidasa's poem as the basis for his own work. It will be a sincere gratification to me if a scholar who has done and will do so much for the elucidation of moot points in the history way of taking the passnge, why vidyate should be in the singular. With our own reading I shonld explain the word as meaning an exposition (perhaps a rendering or translation) of no more than an abridgment of the complete book.'
• Hall, Introduction to Vasavadattá,' pp. 8 and 49. Bühler, On the Chandikašataka of Banabhatta in the Indian Antiquary, Vol. I., p. 111.
+ There are many references in the Harsha Charita to the worship of the sun. Mayura is among those mentioned there as the friends and coevals of Bana. It is not impossible that he may afterwards have given a daughter in marriage to his frieni washirbitavali by Vallabhadeva, which I acquired last year, then in verses attributed the joint authorship of Baga and Mayūra.
