Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c20.s5.44

v2.c20.s5.44

According to popular tradition, Dharmaya and Tanakung were two sons of Yogīśvara, the author of Rāmāyaṇa. The truth of this tradition may be doubted, but Tanakung was undoubtedly a contemporary of Dharmaya and wrote two poetical works Lubdhaka³ and Vṛtta-sañcaya.⁴ The latter work deals with rules of Sanskrit metre as applied to Old-Javanese, and was composed shortly before the fall of Kaḍiri in 1222 A.D. Lubdhaka, composed after this date,¹ relates the well-known story of the fight between the hosts of Yama (the god of death) and of Śiva over the body of a hunter. The latter spent the night of the Śivarātri festival on a Vilva-tree and threw a leaf of it over a Śivaliṅga lying beneath. He thus secured great merits, and so when after his death the servants of Yama took him away, the hosts of Śiva prevented them and a fight ensued. The work is also known as Śivarātri. Lubdhaka is here used as a proper name of a niṣāda, but it is a common word in Sanskrit meaning ‘hunter.’