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CHAPTER - IX THE RĂMAYAŅA VERSION OF DHANEŠVARA SŪRI
(as found in his ŠATRUNJAYA MĀHÁTMYA)
1. PERSONAL HISTORY AND DATE OF DHANEŠVARA Dhanesvara Sūri, according to his own statement' wrote the SatrunjayaMāhātmya in Valabhi, being prevailed upon by (Agrahat) Siladitya, King of Surastra. History knows of six different rulers of the Valabhi dynasty named Silāditya who ruled between 605 and 766 A.D. With what particular Silāditya our poet was associated we are not able to state for the poet speaks of "Silāditya, King of Surāştra", only. Even if we connect him with Silāditya I, we will have to place him in the beginning of the 7th century A.D. But this does not agree with the date given by the poet, 477 years, V.S. (1.e. 421 A.D.). The editor of the work throws a suggestion that our poet and Malla-vādi who defeated the Bauddhas might be identical. This Malla-vādi is quoted by Haribhadra who flourished in the middle of the 8th century A.D. "There are a few quite definite chronological date in the epic itself;* these contradict one another to such an extent that it is not possible to assign an exact date to the work." Jain Literature knows of seven different Dhanesvaras. The writer of the present work is accepted by common consent to be the earliest of them all.6
We know very little of the personal life history of our poet. From the introductory and concluding stanzas of the work we learn that he was the moon to the ocean of the Moon (Candra-) Gaccha. He was prevailed upon to write this work by Siladitya, King of Surástra. This work is a carefully prepared abridged edition of a voluminous work (containing 24000 stanzas) of Sudharmā whose work in its turn was an epitome of a still
1.
शत्रुञ्जयोद्धारकर्तुरष्टादशनपेशितुः । वलभ्यां श्रीसुराष्ट्रेशशिलादित्यस्य चाग्रहात् ।। तत्प्रतिश्रुतितुल्यं तत्माहात्म्यं सुखबोधकृत । वक्ति शत्रुञ्जयस्याद्रेभक्या श्रुणुत हे जनाः ।
- Canto I. 14-15
सप्तसप्ततिमब्दानामतिक्रम्य चतुःशतीम् । विक्रमााच्छिलादित्यो भविता धर्मवद्धिकत ।।
- Canto XIV. 187
See pages 3-4 of the Upodghāta - introduction to the work. See I. 13-14, XIV. 101-102; 164-167: 281-88. Sec Winternitz : History of Indian Literature Vol. II, p. 503". Winternitz concludes that Dhanesvara would have lived in about 1100 A.D. See the Sanskrit Introduction to Surasundari-Cariyam.
