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SAHRDAYĀLOKA (1) Śrīgadita - (pp. 466, śp. Pra. ibid) - Bhoja defines it as,
"tatra śrīr iva dānava-śatror yasmin kulánganā patyuḥ; varņayati śaurya-dhairya-prabhști-guņān agrataḥ sakhyāḥ, patyā ca vipralabdhā gātavye tāḥ kramād upālabhante. śrīgaditam iti manişibhir
udāhsto'sau, padábhinayah." This Uparūpaka is concerned with moments of separation and hence there is vipralambha-śrngāra depicted in it. The person concerned is a kulānganā, a lady from a respectable family, and she describes her feelings to a friend, a second character here. The description is centred round the husband's high qualities of vālour, firmness or fortitude, etc. If she is deceived by her lover husband, she is a vipralabdh, and she in turn admonishes (him). The theme is presented in song. This is a variety of padárthábhinaya as against vākyárthábhinaya. Bhoja does not cite any illustration of this type. The name 'śrī-gadita' is explained by Bhoja as due to the fact that the kulanganā, a heroine belonging to a noble family, describes (gadita) her
lities like goddess Laxmī or Srī, describing those of her lord, Nārāyana. The 'śrīgadita' of Bhoja can be placed with the șidgaka or silpaka of Abhinavagupta. In this a separated heroine relates to her friend the bad and unruly conduct of her husband. Șidgaka represents only a complaint and therefore a negative aspect of the narrator lady's husband, the Śrīgadita first describes the good qualities and then after being deceived, the lady finds fault with her husband. Dr. Raghavan tries to place this variety with the modern 'kuravañci' art-form prevalent in Tamil.
We have noted above that this art-form is known to Dhanika, Hemacandra, the Nāțyadarpaņa, Sāradatanaya, the NLRK., Vägbhata II., and Viśvanātha.
Dhanika simply mentions śrīgadita by name, under DR. I. 8., in a verse along with dombī, bhāna prasthāna, rāsaka, and kāvya - a total of seven art-forms in all, over and above the ten major types and also nātikā. Hemacandra (Kā. Šā. VIII. vs. 69, Edn. Parikh/Kulkarni, pp. 449) has -
"yasmin kulánganā patyuḥ sakhy agre varņayed guņān,
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