Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

Author(s): Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur

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YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
will be seen that Somadeva not only deals with the usual themes of Kārya but adds to the rich fund of Sanskrit poetry by his treatment of topics not usually dealt with in Kāvya literature. He gives us vivid and intimate pictures of court life not found elsewhere, and their accuracy is apparently due to the fact that they are drawn from personal observation and experience. He depicts also other aspects of life, and among his most notable verses may be included those on child life, the cremation ground, and the goddess Candaprārī. He is a sympathetic observer of animals, and some of his verses on animal life are among the best of their kind in Sanskrit literature. He has introduced Jaina religious themes into Kávya poetry, and his verses on the Anuprekşās are an important contribution to the literature on the subject. The use of Prākrit metres in Sanskrit verse is also a noteworthy experiment; and Somadeva has in this connection made a lyrical effort which merits attention as being anterior to the composition of Jayadeva's Gitagovinda,
Perhaps the most interesting body of verse in Yaśastilaka is that dealing with the vices and foibles of the ministers of kings, and the verses in question, varied and extensive as they are, constitute the first systematic attempt at political satire in Sanskrit poetry, and remind us of the satirical verse of Kșemendra, who in his Narmamālā attacks the Kāyastha or the official caste of Kashmir. The later poet writes in a lighter vein, but his work is richer in concrete details, and covers a. wider ground than the corresponding verses of Somadeva. The object of the latter is edification rather than entertainment, but from a historical point of view the observations of both the writers are important as throwing light on some of the abuses of the times. Somadeva may be said to have introduced in this respect a new theme in Sanskrit poetry, which was later developed with ampler details by Kșemendra.
Somadeva is not a great inspired poet: he is sometimes artificial and suffers from verbosity and repetition of ideas. But his verse often throbs with the currents of contemporary life, and he ranks supreme among the Jaina Sanskrit poets who have adopted the kävya style as a vehicle of expression. He has, besides, given effective expression to some of the noble teachings of Jainism in Sanskrit verse. The subject has been treated in another chapter, but we may cite here a notable verse which enshrines the idea of returning good for evil.
अज्ञानभावादशुभाशयाद्वा कुर्वीत चेत् कोऽपि जनः खलस्वम् । तथापि सद्भिः प्रियमेव चिन्यं न मध्यमानेऽप्यमृते विषं हि ॥
1 See Chapter VII,