Srngaramanjari Katha

Author(s): Bhojdev, Kalpalata K Munshi
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 71

48
ŠĶNGARAMAÑJARIKATHA
At the request of the hetarai of Pāțaliputra, Dattaka undertook to write about courtesans and their lives, dealt with in the sixth chapter of the above mentioned treatise.52 Vātsyāyana himself refers to the ‘Dattaka-śāsana' in the sixth chapter of his work.53 The reference in SMK indicates that the works of Dattaka and others must have been current during Bhoja's times. As this work deals with the life of courtesans the reference to Dattaka becomes particularly significant.
In the Caturbhānī, it is surprising that in the two Bhānas of Śūdraka (Padmaprābhrtaka) and iśvardatta (Dhūrtavițasaṁvāda) Dattaka 54 and his sūtras are referred to while Vätsyāyana is not mentioned at all.
In the Kuţtanīmata of Damodaragupta the courtesan is described as adept in the science of erotics and considering authorities like Vätsyāyana, Dattaka and Rājaputra as ignorant in the matter.55
Bhoja has not mentioned Vātsyāyana by name but the heroine is described as an adept in the Kāmasūtra and the like works (feu FTHEfaqarta p. 12). According to Vātsyāyana the Gaņikā's respectable status in society is due to her mastery in the sixty-four Vidyās;56 the sixty-four Samprayogika Vidyās are also mentioned by him.57 The heroine here is described as having mastery over both these kinds of sixty-four Vidyās (uette: p. 12). The picture of the Nāgaraka given in the KS58 is brought out in the stories of the SMK. Besides these the familiarity of the SMK with the KS is very clear.
No authority in Alamkāraśāstra has been mentioned by name in the SMK. But a line from Daņdin's Kāvyādarśa (Fanufaf19T
19 HORE: p. 10) has been quoted. Bhoja is deeply indebted to Dandin whom he follows in many respects. It has been mentioned before how Bhoja's conception of Alumkāra is only an elaboration of Dandin's view.59 The same is the case with regard to his unique theory of śrngāra for which he quotes Dandin's authority; this will be dealt with in the next chapter. We have also seen 52. Ibid, I, 1-11.
53. Ibid, VI, 2, 55. 54. In the first Bhāna, Dattaka is ridiculed for using the sacred word Om for starting his Vaisikasūtras:
वेश्याङगणं प्रविष्टो मोहादभिक्षर्यदच्छया वापि ।
FUGÈ yrat Efaits: 17:11 (p. 1 In the 2nd Bhāna, Dattaka is quoted thus:
T AS FITTSPATET: Qar' ft 1 (p. 24) 55. P. 39, vs. 77.
वात्स्यायनमयमबुधं बाह्यान्दूरेण दत्तकाचार्यान् ।
गणयति मन्मथतन्त्रे पशुतुल्यं राजपुत्रं च ।। 56. KS, I, 3, 20-21.
58. Ibid, I, 4. 57. Ibid, II, 2, 1.
59. See Supra, p. 50.