________________
.Maan Singh
decapitation or (other) corporal punishments." (quoted by R. C. Majumdar The Classical Age, Bhartiya vidya Bhawan, Bombay, Impression II, 1962, p. 22) Such a peaceful atomosphere prevailed even in the reign of Kumargupta I, son of Candragupt II; but the Gupta empire was menaced by various forces immediately before or after his death in 455 A. D. and his valorous son Skandgupta saved it from disruption and extinction (B. P. Sinha : Thc Decline of the Kingdom of Magadha. ed. I, 1954, pp. 1-3,). Subandhu probably began to write bis Vasavadatta in the later period of his life and could not complete it before these disturbar ces. He appears to refer to this evil state of affairs in the tenth prefatory stanza :
सा रसवत्ता विहिता नवका विलसन्ति चरति नो कं कः । .
सरसीव कीर्तिशेषं गतवति भुवि विक्रमादित्ये ॥ At another place, too, he seems to point to the disgrace and distress of his own and the noble persons of the Gupta family caused by these opponents : TATRATENTRE SU4H17Tufa: (p. 220, lines 1-2). His distinction, in the sixth prefatory verse, of the wicked from serpents by saying that the latter are foes to weasels (agascat) but not to be their family (a gorgot), whereas the wicked are hard even to the persons of the family of their enemies (Agingat), also refers to the enemies' misdeeds exercised against the Guota family. He refers to the rise of the wicked and the fall of the good खलोदयसाधुविपत्तिसाक्षिभ्यामक्षि2014 (p. 296, line 6). We may also suspect here Govindagupta's revolt against bis brother Kumäragupta I in this last years or the latter's son Skandagupt (R, C. Majumdar: The Vakāțaka-Gupta Age, reprinted 1954, p. 166); and the expression ( gut) may be understood to point to him as a man who is a foe to the persons of his family (see V, S. Apte : The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Pt. III, Poona, p. 1600). While the phrase atufafaragialta
1941 of may be taken to hint at his coming to power and his misdeeds done unto his own family and the honourable people. If he ever revolted, he might have been hard to Subandhu and his party also. Later he might have been defeated by Skandagupta who gained the royal throne saving the empire from disruption and extinction. It is probably because of thess troubles and distress caused by enemies in the last years of his patron Kumāragupta I that with a grief-stricken heart Subandhu remembers and grieves over the death of his patron's father, the nighty Vikramāditya Candragupta II who established a peacefnl reign suppressing all of his enemies and created a golden age, when there was no misery, the arts flourished and the honourable were duly honoured. When the Gupta empire fell on evil days, the painful memory of his death became acute to Subandhu's mind; for had he been alive at that time, the empire would not have suffered the unspeakable distress, the honourable would not have faced disrespect at the hands of the ignoble foes and arts would not have a lost noble connoisseur. For details see our paper : gar
uf in Pracya-Prajñā, Aligarb, Vol. I, 1968, pp. 52. 55. 29 Vänavadatti, p. 242, lines 3-4. Teffretrifiantia quaufarfe caferyayfa
तभाङ्कारिभभ्भरालीभारभरितभूमिभागबीभत्सेन,
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