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Vol. XXI, 1997
REVIEWS
139
pain-staking researches on these latest, upto date and more authentic critical edition. Further, we are afraid they will have to revise their works, though not in near future, if the linguistic researches of K. R. Chandra pertaining to the original nature of the Ardhamāgadlii Prakrit language in which the last Tirthankara Mahāvīra actually taught, as distinguished from subsequent compilations of the Jaina canons in Pataliputra, Mathurā and Valabhi, successively incorporating the influences of local Prakrit variations, twins' out to be more authentic. All the same, the effort they have put in their research monographs so far fully deserves to be congratuated in view of the valuable assistance it is envisioned to provide to researchers in the field of Prakrit and Āgamic Jainological studies. N.M.K..
SIVASVĀMIN'S KAPPHINĀBHYUDAYA OR EXALTATION OF KING KAPPHINA, edited by Gauri Shankar, with an Appendix and Romanized Version of Cantos I-VIII and XIX by Michael Hahn, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1989, pp. + 165 + LXXXVIII + 165 + xxxvi + 100, Rs. 400/-.
Apart from Kālidāsa, to whom some scholars have sought to assign a home in Kashmir, in the long list of famous writers and scholars who have enriched and extended the realms of thought and knowledge, we come across Prakrit poets like Pravarasena of the Setubandha fame, prolific writers like Kșemendra and Ratnākara, literary critics like Anandavardhana and Mammata chroniclers like Kalhana and Saiva philosophers like Kallata. In the reign of King Avantivarman (855-833 A. D.) a remarkable revival of Sanskrit learning was witnessed in Kashmir, and Sivasvāmin was one of the 'gems' of his court. He was an opponent of the literary principles formulated by Dandin in his Kävyādarśa, and is credited with the authorship of seven Mahākāvyas, several dramas and prose works, and other writings. But, now, only the Kapphiņābhyudaya and a few stray verses make up all that is left to us to read and admire. The Kapphiņābhyudaya is composed in a highly ornate and complex style, which makes it difficult to study and appreciate by all, except only the scholars who are equipped with an intimate knowledge of traditional Sanskrit grammar, mastery of the Sanskrit language, rhetorics and literature. Sivasvāmin is equally at home in both Sanskrit and Prakrit. His imagination soars high and he displays exquisite poetic skill.
The theme of this Sanskrit epic is a Buddhist story. He has adapted the simple
