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SOME LESS KNOWN VERSES OF SIDDHASENA
DIVAKARA
M. A. Dhaky
The illustrious Jaina epistemologist, dialectician, and poet of the calibre of Kalidasa, namely Siddhasena Divakara (c. late 4th and early 5th cent. A. D.) had produced more than what today is extant. Among his lost works is the treatise on Jaina logic, the Nayavatara1; a couple of ph rases perhaps from this very work2 are cited by Simha Suri kṣamasramapa (c. A.D. 625-675) in his commentary on Mallavädi kṣamairamana's Dvadasara-nayacakra (e. mid 6th cent. A.D.). And although his 20 dva trimlikäs in Sanskrit are available (from the alleged 325), the existence of some of the unavailable can be inferred from the quotations therefrom by other writers.
The Siddhasena-carita" inside the Prabhavaka-carita (S. 1344/A.D. 1278) of Prabhäcandracarya of Raja-gaccha gives a legendary account of Siddhasena, the account at best can boast to contain only a few fragmented facts that could be historical7. Among the significant data preserved in this work are a few quotations whose utterance is ascribed to Siddhasena Divakara, though these are not traceable inside his currently known works.
Among such verses are the following which he is alleged to have composed in praise of and recited before, king Vikramaditya (probably Candragupta II, A.D 382-415):
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अपूर्वेय धनुर्विद्या भवता शिक्षिता कुतः । मार्गणैधः समभ्येति गुणो याति दिगन्तरम् ॥ अमी पानकरंकाभाः सप्तापि जलराशयः । यद्यशोराजहंसस्य पञ्जरं भुवनत्रयम् ॥ सर्वदा सर्वशेऽसीति मिध्या संस्तूयसे बुधैः । नारयो लेभिरे पृष्ठं न वक्षः परयोषितः ॥
भयमेकमनेकेभ्यः शत्रुभ्यो विधिवत्सदा । ददासि तच्च ते नास्ति राजन् चित्रमिदं महत् ॥
These verses do not figure in Siddhasena's Gunavacana-dvätrimiika (Dv 11) which evidently is addressed to a king. The style of the aforenoted verses apparently is pre-medieval. They do possess wit, strength, Sambodhi-X-22
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