________________
NM Kansara
soldiers surrounded him Udayana drew bis dagger to deal with them, obviously because the use of his bow and arrows was out of question due to the closeness of the enemy ranks While he was engaged with hia adversaries in the front he was caught by the soldiers stealthily from behind 80
We, thus find that Somadova has tried to defend Gunādhya on all counts against the charges of Impropriety and ureality And this is not unnatural or improbable if we remember the aggertion of Somadeva in the very begioning or his work to the effect that while he has followed the original faithfully without adding anytblog of his own, he has tried as far as possible to maintain the elements of propriety and continuity of the narratives, bas rearranged certain sections of the work to achieve the harmony of the narrative interest g1 And all these attempts by Somadeva at justifying most of the shortcomings of the story (to which Bhamaba has drawn our attention would have been unnecessary if these shortcoming did not exist 10 the original story of Gunadhya But inspite of all these faults of Gunadbya - faults which were genuine in the narrative and hence were meant to be originally intentionale! - he did not disqualify as a 'Kavl' in the eyes of Bhamaha, obviously because the Byhatkatha was a repository of folktales first and a poetic piece only secondarily Bhamaba'a objections are against the blind borrowers who borrow the faults too of the narrative
Still, the question remains as to whom does Bhimaba criticize for borrowing this faulty incident of the Udayana story without guitably improving upon it in the light of the accepted norms of common sense and statecraft
The criticigzn could not possibly be directed against the Jaina, and Buddhist and the Puranic versions, since Bhamaha would hardly accept tho
79 Op cit., II iv, 17-18 एकाको वादयन् वीणां चिन्तयन् बन्धनानि स । मधुरध्वनि गायश्च शनैरुपजगाम तम् ।
मान्यवदत्तचित्तत्वात् सन्ध्याध्यान्तषशास्थ स । न तं धमगज राजा मायागजमलक्षयत् ।। 60 Op cit, II, wv, 20-21
ततोऽकस्माच निर्गत्य तस्माद्यन्त्रमयाद् गजात् । परसेश्वर त सन्नद्धा पुरुषा पर्यषायरन् ।
तान्दृष्ट्वा नृपति कोषादाकृष्टछुरिकोऽथ स । अप्रस्थान्योषयन्मन्यैरेत्य पश्चादगृह्यत ।। 81 ASS I, 1, 10-11
स्था मूल तथैवैतत् न मनागप्यतिकम । प्रन्थविस्तरसंक्षेपमात्र भाषा च भिद्यते ।
औचित्यान्वयरक्षा च यथाशफि विधीयते । कथारसाविघाम काव्याशस्य च योजना। 2 of Kvik of Bhátraha, IV 41
ममोऽस्तु तेभ्यो विवभ्यो येऽभिप्राय कवेरिमम् । शास्त्रलोकाषपास्यैव भयन्ति मयवेदिम ॥ and it interpretation by Dr Kane in Hut Skt Poetica, P. 118
