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A History of Sanskrit Literature c15.s2: 2. Amaru

A History of Sanskrit Literature c15.s2

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2. Amaru

c15.s2.1

Like Bhartṛhari, Amaru or Amaruka—the quantity of the *u* varies—is a person of mystery. His century of stanzas,¹ like those of Bhartṛhari, is presented to us in a very different condition in the manuscripts, which have from 90 to 115 verses. Of the four recensions² which have been distinguished only fifty-one stanzas are common to all, and there is much variation in order. Moreover, some of the stanzas in the Çataka are attributed by the anthologies to other writers, while conversely they ascribe to Amaru verses not found therein. Various efforts have been made to decide the original form of the text, but the suggestion that only Çārdūlavikrīḍita verses should be admitted as genuine lacks any proof, incidentally leaving us with only sixty-one such verses to make up the century; there is more plausibility in suggesting the superior value of the text as recognized by the oldest commentator Arjunavarman (*c.* 1215), but no certainty is possible.

c15.s2.2

¹ See R. Simon, *Das Amaruçataka* (Kiel, 1893); ZDMG. xlix. 577 ff.

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² South Indian (comm. Vemabhūpāla); Bengal (Ravicandra); that used by Arjunavarman; and a mixed recension (Rāmarudra, Rudramadeva).

c15.s2.4

It is equally impossible to decide the date of the author. We know that the Çataka was recognized by Ānandavardhana (*c.* 850) as a work of high repute, for he cites it as a proof that a poet can in single stanzas convey so much sentiment that each appears like a poem in miniature. Further, Vāmana (*c.* 800) cites, without naming the author, three stanzas. These citations establish certainly that the Çataka dates before 750, but it is a long step from this to the conclusion that the work is of the period of Kālidāsa, and, therefore, older than Bhartṛhari. From the elaboration and perfection of the technique it seems much more probable that the poet wrote after rather than before 650.

c15.s2.5

Unfortunately the only tradition recorded is absolutely foolish; the great sage Çaṅkara is alleged to have animated for a period the body of a king of Kashmir in order to obtain knowledge of the pleasures of love, and the Çataka is the record of his experiences with the hundred ladies of the harem. The commentator Ravicandra carries this out to the extent of finding a theosophic sub-meaning in the stanzas. Other commentators have different views. Vemabhūpāla (14th cent.), commentator of the first recension, following up the description of the poem as having as its purpose the exposition of the sentiment of love, contained in the manuscripts, seeks to show for each stanza that it describes the condition of a Nāyikā, or heroine according to the description of the text-books of poetics. Others content themselves with explaining the forms of rhetorical figures found therein. We may, however, dismiss the idea that the work was intended, like Rudra Bhaṭṭa's *Çṛṅgāratilaka*, to illustrate types of anything, whether figures or heroines.¹ The Çataka is essentially a collection of pictures of love, and it differs from the work of Bhartṛhari in that, while Bhartṛhari deals rather with general aspects of love and women as factors in life, Amaru paints the relation of lovers, and takes no thought of other aspects of life. Possibly, if the reference to the purpose in the title in the manuscripts has any value, he may have planned illustrating other sides of life, but that is idle conjecture, and we have sufficient cause to be grateful to him for what he has given us without seeking more.

c15.s2.6

¹ See Pischel's ed. of Rudra, pp. 9–11.

c15.s2.7

The love which Amaru likes is gay and high-spirited, delighting in tiny tiffs and lovers' quarrels, but ending in smiles; the poet hardly ever contemplates the utter disappearance of love; the maiden may be angry, but she will relent, and she is angry indeed when her lover takes her too seriously:

c15.s2.8

*katham api sakhi krīḍākopād vrajeti mayodite*
*kaṭhinahṛdayas tyaktvā çayyāṁ balād gata eva saḥ*
*iti sarabhasadhvastapremṇi vyapetaghṛṇe spṛhām*
*punar api hatavrīḍaṁ cetaḥ karoti karomi kim?*

c15.s2.9

‘In feigned anger, dear friend, I said to my beloved, “Depart”, and straightway the hard-hearted one sprang from our couch and left me. Now my shameless heart yearns for that cruel one who so hastily broke off our love, and what can I do?’ Means to win back the errant one may be devised by a kind confidante:

c15.s2.10

*datto ’syāḥ praṇayas tvayaiva bhavatā seyaṁ ciraṁ lālitā*
*daivād adya kila tvam eva kṛtavān asyā navaṁ vipriyam*
*manyur duḥsaha eṣa yāty upaśamaṁ no sāntvavādaiḥ sphuṭaṁ*
*he nistriṁśa vimuktakaṇṭhakaruṇaṁ tāvat sakhī roditu.*

c15.s2.11

‘ “Thou didst give her thy love; long hast thou cherished her; fate has decreed that to-day thou hast caused her fresh displeasure; her anger is hard to bear and words of comfort cannot stay it, o thou heartless man,” let this her friend say to melt his heart in tones that he can hear.’ The hard-hearted maiden herself is warned:

c15.s2.12

*likhann āste bhūmiṁ bahir avanataḥ prāṇadayito*
*nirāhārāḥ sakhyaḥ satataruditocchūnanayanāḥ*
*parityaktaṁ sarvaṁ hasitapaṭhitaṁ pañjaraśukais*
*tavāvasthā ceyaṁ visṛja kaṭhine mānam adhunā.*

c15.s2.13

‘The beloved of thy life standeth without, his head bowed down drawing figures on the ground; thy friends can eat nothing, their eyes are swollen with constant weeping; the parrots in their cages no more laugh or speak, and thine own state is this! Ah, lay aside thine anger, o hard-hearted maiden.’ And the punishment of the peccant lover is often sheer joy to both of them and her friends:

c15.s2.14

*kopāt komalalolabāhulatikāpāśena baddhvā dṛḍhaṁ*
*nītvā mohanamandiraṁ dayitayā svairaṁ sakhīnāṁ puraḥ*
*bhūyo ’py evam iti skhalanmṛdugirā saṁsūcya duśceṣṭitaṁ*
*dhanyo hanyata eva nihnutiparaḥ preyān rudatyā hasan.*

c15.s2.15

‘Happy the lover whom his enraged darling binds firm in the supple embrace of her arms and bears before her friends into love’s abode, to denounce his misdeeds in a soft voice that trembles as she says, “Yet once more he wronged me”, while he keeps on denying everything and laughing as she cries and pummels him.’ But the picture may be more serious if the lover will insist on going despite all:

c15.s2.16

*yātāḥ kiṁ na milanti sundari punaś cintā tvayā matkṛte*
*no kāryā nitarāṁ kṛśāsi kathayaty evaṁ sabāṣpe mayi*
*lajjāmantharatārakeṇa nipatatpītāśruṇā cakṣuṣā*
*dṛṣṭvā māṁ hasitena bhāvimaraṇotsāhas tayā sūcitaḥ.*

c15.s2.17

‘“Do travellers never return? Thou must not, fair one, vex thyself on my account; thou art all too thin.” So said I midst tears, but, though she laughed, her eyes filled with tears, their pupils dull with shame, betrayed her rash purpose of death to come.’ But more common is the light-hearted treatment of lovers’ quarrels:

c15.s2.18

*ekasmiñ śayane vipakṣaramaṇīnāmagrahe mugdhayā*
*sadyaḥ kopaparāṅmukhaglapitayā cāṭūni kurvann api*
*āvegād avadhīritaḥ priyatamas tūṣṇīṁ sthitas tatkṣaṇam*
*mā bhūt supta ivety amandavalitagrīvaṁ punar vīkṣitaḥ.*

c15.s2.19

‘As they lay together the fair maiden, hearing her rival’s name, averted her head in anger and vehemently repulsed her lover despite his flatteries. But when he stayed still, straightway she turned her neck fearing he had fallen asleep.’ A lively dialogue is compressed into the following stanza, which is a marvel of brevity:

c15.s2.20

*bāle nātha vimuñca mānini ruṣaṁ roṣān mayā kiṁ kṛtaṁ*
*khedo ’smāsu na me ’parādhyati bhavān sarve ’parādhā mayi*
*tat kiṁ rodiṣi gadgadena vacasā kasyāgrato rudyate*
*nanv etan mama kā tavāsmi dayitā nāsmīty ato rudyate.*

c15.s2.21

‘“Dear girl.” “My lord.” “Stay thine anger, dearest.” “What anger have I shown?” “I am sorry.” “No blame is thine, all the fault is mine.” “Then why dost thou weep and why doth thy voice tremble?” “Before whom do I weep?” “Surely before me.” “What am I to thee?” “My beloved.” “Not that am I, and so I weep.”’ A more serious note still may be struck:

c15.s2.22

*dṛṣṭas kātaranetrayā cirataraṁ baddhvāñjaliṁ yācitaḥ*
*paścād aṁśukapallave ca vidhṛto nirvyājam āliṅgitaḥ*
*ity ākṣipya samastam evam aghṛṇo gantum pravṛttaḥ śaṭhaḥ*
*pūrvaṁ prāṇaparigraho dayitayā muktas tato vallabhaḥ.*

c15.s2.23

‘Long she gazed on him with timid eyes, then entreated him with folded hands, then grasped the hem of his garment, next frankly embraced him; but all her advances he rejected and started to leave her, cruel deceiver; then first she abandoned her life for love, and last her beloved.' Contrast is afforded by a pretty idea:

c15.s2.24

*kva prasthitāsi karabhoru ghane niçīthe: prāṇeçvaro vasati yatra manaḥpriyo me*
*ekākinī vada kathaṁ na bibheṣi bāle: nanv asti puṅkhitaçaro madanaḥ sahāyaḥ.*

c15.s2.25

‘“Whither away, o fair-limbed one, in this dark night?” “Where the lord of my life, my heart’s love dwelleth.” “But tell me, lady, dost not fear to go alone?” “Is not Love with his feathered arrows my companion?”’ Very pretty is the fancy:

c15.s2.26

*mugdhe mugdhatayaiva netum akhilaṁ kālaṁ kim ārabhyate mānaṁ dhatsva dhṛtiṁ badhāna ṛjutāṁ dūre kuru preyasi*
*sakhyaivam pratibodhitā prativacas tām āha bhītānanā nīcaiḥ çaṁsa hṛdi sthito hi nanu me prāṇeçvaraḥ çroṣyati.*

c15.s2.27

‘“Foolish one, dost mean to spend all thy time in simple faith? Show proper pride, take courage, heed not loyalty to thy loved one.” So did her friend advise; but she all afraid made reply, “Speak low, for my beloved dwells in my heart and he will hear you.”’ Sly humour, reminding us a little of the homelier style of the poets of Mahārāṣṭra whose work is preserved in Hāla’s anthology, may be found in:

c15.s2.28

*dampatyor niçi jalpator gṛhaçukenākarṇitaṁ yad vacas tat prātar gurusaṁnidhau nigadatas tasyātimātraṁ vadhūḥ*
*karṇālambitapadmarāgaçakalaṁ vinyasya cañcūpuṭe vrīḍārtā vidadhāti dāḍimaphalavyājena vāgbandhanam.*

c15.s2.29

‘The house parrot overheard at night some dalliance of the young pair and in the morning began to repeat it unduly before their elders; so the young wife in shame stays his speech by putting in his beak a fragment of ruby from her earring, on the pretext of giving him a pomegranate fruit.’

c15.s2.30

The stanzas cited show adequately the elegance and precision of Amaru’s style, his avoidance of unduly long or difficult compounds, and the effectiveness of his verse. His normal metre is the Çārdūlavikrīḍita; but the Hariṇī, Vasantatilaka, Çikhariṇī, and Sragdharā occur fairly often, while the Çloka, Drutavilambita, Mālinī, and Mandākrāntā are sporadically employed.

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