The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c30.s4.85

v2.c30.s4.85

Tradition also records that Vākpati II was not only a successful military leader but also a poet and a generous patron of letters. The Udaipur *praśasti* tells us that ‘cultivating eloquence, high poetry and the art of reasoning,’ he ‘completely mastered the lore of the *Śāstras*’¹ Padmagupta calls him the ‘root of (that) creeper of Paradise, Sarasvatī’; he adds that ‘after Vikramāditya departed, after Sātavāhana went, divine Sarasvatī found rest with this friend of poets.’² Apart from the verses ascribed to this king in the *Prabandha-cintāmaṇi* and the *Bhoja-prabandha*, which Bühler regards as ‘suspicious,’ the anthologies and works on *Alaṃkāra* occasionally quote verses of this prince, ‘which show that he possessed some talent.’³ Padmagupta, *alias* Parimala, the author of the *Navasāhasāṅka-carita*, Dhanañjaya, the author of *Daśarūpa*, his brother Dhanika, the author of *Daśarūpāvaloka*, Halāyudha, the commentator on Piṅgala’s work on metrics, and probably also Dhanapāla, the author of the *Pāiya-lacchi*, were among the ornaments that adorned the court of Vākpati-Muñja.⁴