________________
858
SAHRDAYĀLOKA mukha, pratimukha and nirvahana, with garbha and avamaśa absent from it. It has a famous and nobly born hero and is decorated with lofty expression - udāttavacanánvitam. There is prominance of bhārati-vrtti and this suggests that the physical action may be on a low key with descriptive element thriving. Because of this we have a lot of talks, wherein a lady from a noble family describes before her friends (= sakhīhām agrato vakti) (and this is against a single friend as described by Bhoja, Hemacandra and the ND.), the high qualities of her husband, or she rebukes him or runs down these qualities in case if she is deceived by him. She sits there with a hope of getting united with him and dresses herself in beautiful attire and ornaments. This is also the vāsakasajjā avasthā. Perhaps after getting ready and waiting for him for long she feels frustrated and finds faults with him. She is utkanthitā also, and getting very eager she either recites or sings. Thus, there is lot of love in separation here. But what is important for Sāradātanaya is that he calls it an art-form to be staged in a single act. The nāyikā appears in three stages as Vāsaka-sajjā. Utkanthitā and Vipralabdhā. The nāyaka is also a famous character 'prasiddhódātta' and 'prakhyāta', which perhaps gives some historicity to the story or theme.
The NLRK. has the following : atha śrīgaditam. yatra strir āsīnā karuņam pathati. ekánkam. udātta-vacana-krtam, bhāratī-vrtti-pradhānam, prakhyātavastu-nāyakam, yathā-krīdā-rasātalam.
Obviously the NLRK. has the definition of Śrī-gadita modelled on Sāradātanaya. Dr. De (SP.) (pp. 310) observes that Sāgaranandin's date is uncertain but Bahurūpa Misra (later then 1250 A.D.) knows him. So, he could be somewhere between 1150 A.D. - 1200 A.D. Sāradātanaya is placed by Dr. De (pp. 238, SP. ibid) between 1100-1300 A.D. So, either Sāradātanaya was Sāgaranandin's near predecessor or was his contemporary or perhaps even his junior contemporary. But looking at NLRK's style and treatment, it seems its author tries to give prose summary of authentic works. Hence, we are inclined to place Sāradātanava earlier than Sāgaranandin. But this is only a personal impression. It could be otherwise also. But for the sake of convenience we will place NLRK after BP. Or, both of them must be imbibing a common tradition. perhaps seen earlier in Bhoja - What we may call the Mālava tradition.
So, for NLRK. also, as seen in BP., this minor art-form has one act, is having bhārati vrtti as predominant diction, is having a famous theme and a famous hero, and is full of lofty expressions and the female character here is engaged in woes - karuņam pathati - perhaps because she is deceived by her husband whose great
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
