Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

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

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YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
cold? Further, she accuses Yasodhara of jealousy when she says that only an intelligent person, free from jealousy, can be happy with women; one who behaves otherwise runs the risk of losing his life, like a worshipper of the evil spirit Krtya, or at least incurs a woman's hatred.' Amṛtamati's plea for reciprocity of love as an essential condition of conjugal harmony cannot, of course, absolve her from moral responsibility as wife and mother. But she says enough to convince us of the misery of her married life, and we may feel inclined to look upon her failure as a wife as a domestic tragedy rather than as an inveterate case of moral depravity.
The next episode, the murder of Yasodhara, can be regarded only as a premeditated crime without any redeeming feature; but even here, as already pointed out, Somadeva represents Amṛtamati as acting in self-defence. She regards the story of Yasodhara's dream and his plan to renounce the world as a feint', that is, as a device to take her unawares, and resolves to act quickly: 'Before he lets loose the poison of his wrath on me, I will let it loose on him!" She opines that a person who is honest in his dealings with cheats and villains, the wily and the selfish, and those who lack in self-respect, is a fool and becomes the dupe of all. So she decides to follow the policy of deceit for deceit' (sathapratisaṭhanyāya), and pay Yasodhara in his own coin. The plea of self-defence is, however, hardly convincing, as there is nothing in Yasodhara's attitude to justify any suspicion of revengeful action on his part. Somadeva is well aware of this, and does not, in fact, try to palliate Amṛtamati's crime. But he depicts her as a weakling who cannot help her instincts, and lacks the moral strength to resist their power over her life. He analyses her motives and examines her conduct from different points of view, and seeks to preserve to some extent our sympathy for the guilty woman. the succeeding portion of the story Somadeva does not add anything important to the traditional presentation of Amṛtamati's career, and seems rather to lose interest in her and lets her appear according to the exigencies of the story. But, on the whole, Amṛtamati in Somadeva's romance is a remarkable piece of characterization showing originality and skill, and reveals an aspect of the author's genius all but obscured by the wealth of scholarship and learning exhibited in the work.
In
1 ' किंच परमकुहन एव पुरंभीषु बुद्धिमानवाप्नोति स्वश्रेयमम् । अन्यथा कृत्याराधक इन ध्रुवं पञ्चजनः पञ्चतामश्चेत् । भवेद्वावश्यमक्षिगतः । p. 142. Srutasagara says परं केवलमकुहन एवं ईर्ष्यारहित एव । Ibid.
2
' न खलु मे यामिनीसमाचरितसाहसादस्य वसुमतीपतेर परमेवंविधकूटकपटानुष्ठानमस्ति । Ibid. p. 141.
3 ' तदेष यावन्न मयि रोषविषं वर्षते तावदहमेवास्य तद्वर्षामि ।' Ibid., p. 142.
4
धूर्तेषु मायाविषु दुर्जनेषु स्वार्थैकनिष्ठेषु विमानितेषु । वर्तेत यः साधुतया स लोके प्रतार्थते मुग्धमतिर्न केन ॥ Ibid., p. 145.