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YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
One of the topics which makes later Sanskrit writers throw off all restraint is fame, usually the fame of kings. Apart from poetical descriptions of royal fame, Somadeva gives an elaborate picture of the fame of the sage Sudatta (Book I), which illustrates how Kävya poets seek novelty in the treatment of conventional themes by introducing fanciful images and conceits. The description in question may be summarised thus. “The universe having been pervaded by Sudatta's fame, white as the foam of milk, Brahman is anxious lest the white things created by him should be inerged in the general whiteness and lost to view. So he devises signs of recognition, and puts the submarine fire in the Ocean of Milk, masses of matted hair on Siva's head, a dark spot in the form of a deer in the moon, protuberances on the heads of Airāvata and other divine elephants, mineral peaks on the Himālayas, Tamāla trees on the slopes of the Kailāsa mountain, the dark waters of the Yamunā in the course of the Ganges, and yellow filaments in white lotus blossoms; while he prescribes for the Pāñcajanya conch contact with the dark hands of Krşņa. Sudatta's fame is also represented as a maiden in her nuptial attire, wandering in the universe and rejecting various suitors for her hand on different grounds. She tells Brahman, for instance, that he is too old to accompany her in her travels; tells Agni, the god of fire, that he is hardly fit for marriage, suffering as he does from acute jaundice; and rejects Varuņa, the lord of the ocean, because he is disabled by dropsy and hence debarred from the gaieties of love. Vāyu, the wind-god, is too fickle for her, and she tells Kubera, the god of wealth, that a confirmed drunkard like him is not fit to converse with a maiden like her. Siva who lives near funeral pyres is, of course, ruled out; and she warns the Moon that his life is in danger on account of his incurable consumption, and tells Vişnu that, being a baldpate with a scalp resembling an iron cauldron turned upside down, he is not worthy of her kisses. Unable to accept any one of them, Maiden Fame continues to wander without abiding anywhere, like a doe deluded by a mirage, like the mind of a king who has lost his throne, like the intellect of a sage who has attained the inner vision." There is no doubt that this description of fame shows considerable ingenuity, but the reckless elaboration of a favourite theme all but makes it verge on the comic.3
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1 'अनवरतमधुपानपरिच्युतमतिप्रकाश वित्तश, न गोचरश्चतुरोक्तिसुधारसास्वाद विस्फुरितश्रवणाञ्जलिपुटायाः सहालापगोष्ठी
नाम्' इति नकूलबरपितरम् । 2 'अवतानकालायसतलिकाकृतिखल तिमस्तकदेश हृषीकेश, न समीपमदयकचग्रहग्रहिलविग्रहायाः कुटिलकुन्तला विलविलोचन.
चुम्बनानाम्' इति मुकुन्दम् । 3 Certain other gods are also mentioned, including & vulgar reference to Indra.
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