The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c7.s7.85

v1.c7.s7.85

The Sātavāhana period was also productive of a few literary works of outstanding merit. There is the Kātantra, written by Sarvavarman, a minister of a Sātavāhana king, to enable his sovereign to acquire command over Sanskrit grammar within six months. It enjoyed a great fame, replaced old grammars, and is even today much in use in Eastern Bengal and Kashmir. Guṇāḍhya, said to be another minister of the same Sātavāhana prince, wrote the Bṛhatkathā in Paiśācī Prākṛt.¹ It was the earliest collection of wonderful tales interwoven into the main story dealing with the adventures of a hero Naravāhanadatta. In the opinion of Dhanapāla, the author of Tilakamañjarī, ‘Other Sanskrit Kathās are derived from it and by its side look like garments made of borrowed pieces’. The author of Daśarūpa placed it next to the Rāmāyaṇa as another mine of material for dramatic writers. Govardhana regarded Guṇāḍhya as the third of the epic triad, the first two being Vālmīki and Vyāsa. Unfortunately this work has totally disappeared, and so far there seems no chance of its recovery. An idea of its contents, however, can be had from its three versions in Sanskrit, viz. Somadeva’s Kathāsaritsāgara, Kṣemendra’s Bṛhatkathāmañjarī, and Budhasvāmin’s Bṛhatkathā-ślokasaṅgraha. Prof. Felix Lacôte holds that ‘the differences in the three versions enable us to a certain extent to restore the original’ and that it was not a compilation without originality; it was an epic poem sui generis.