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38
PAUMACARIU
allusion to Svayambhūvyākarana may have some specific reference. But even now, inspite of the express statements of the glossator, I find it difficult to quite dispel my scepticism about this matter. The reason is twofold. Firstly the glossator of J. is silent about Svayabhu's supposed works on Koşa and Alankara3. The possible alternative of these works being according to the glossator successors of the PC, is to be ruled out, because he (i. e. the glossator) informs us, in the gloss on one of the Prasasti stanzas at the end of Sandhi 834, that Mahakavi Svayambhu went to heaven after that much of PC. had been composed. This means that according to the glossa or PC. was the last work of Svayambhu, which death did not allow him to finish.
Secondly, as this very statement of the glossator shows, the traditions about Svayambhu and his works reported by him are not quite reliable, for we have unimpeachable evidence to believe that Svayambhuchhandas containing actual quotations from the PC., and the Ritthanemicariu making a direct reference to the PC, were composed after the same. It cannot be, therefore, the last work of Svayambhū. On this point the glossator's report is in conflict with the actual facts. This would caution us against putting too much reliance on the statement listing Svayambhu's works. Some more definitive evidence is required before we can take Svayambhu's grammar for a positive fact. But the glossator's statement has certainly lifted it out of the realm of mere speculation. In this connection, however, the following Prasasti stanza, found at the beginning of Sandhi 67 of the Rc., appears to be significant:
गति ताम्व कइमत्तकुंजरा लक्ख-लक्खण- विहीणा । जा सत्त - दीह-जीहं सयंभु-सीहं ण पेच्छति ॥
'The proud poet-elephants, ignorant of of the Sastric subjects and expositions, roar only so long as they do not sight the Svayambhulion, with seven long tongues'.
'The seven tongues' can be taken to allude to Svayambhu's seven works. 1. Suddhayacariya, 2. Paumacariu, 3. Svayambhucchandas, 4. Riṭṭhanemicariu: these four are definite. If the dvisandhanakavya mentioned by the glossator in JT. is different from the Suddhayacariya it would be the fifth work. If we credit Svayambhu with the authorship of a grammar it would be the sixth. Some
3 Even if we take in the above citation to mean one of these, there would still be discrepancy of one.
C
4 इति कृते रामचरिते स्वयंभुमहाकविर्देवलोकीबभूव ।
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