The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s3.189

c8.s3.189

There are also several literary traditions connected with the name of Sâtavâhana or Sâlivâhana. A work of the name of Bṛihatkathâ written in that form of the Prâkṛit which is called the Paiśâchî or the language of goblins is mentioned by Daṇḍin in his work the Kâvyâdarśa.¹ Somadeva, the author of the Kathâsaritsâgara, and Kshemendra, the author of another Bṛihatkathâ, profess to have derived their stories from this Paiśâchî Bṛihatkathâ. The stories comprised in this are said to have been communicated to Guṇâḍhya, who for some time had been minister to Sâtavâhana, by a ghost of the name of Kâṇabhûti. They were written in blood and arranged in seven books. Guṇâḍhya offered them to king Sâtavâhana, but he refused to receive such a ghastly work written in blood and in the language of goblins, whereupon Guṇâḍhya burnt six of them. Some time after, king Sâtavâhana having been informed of the charming nature of those stories went to Guṇâḍhya and asked for them. But the last or seventh book alone remained, and this the king obtained from his pupils with his permission.²