A History of Sanskrit Literature c17.s1.36

c17.s1.36

Other minor collections of gnomic stanzas are attributed to Vararuci—which of the many is meant is quite unknown, to Ghaṭakarpara, and to Vetāla Bhaṭṭa, under the styles of *Nītiratna*, *Nītisāra*, and *Nītipradīpa*; they contain some excellent stanzas, but their date is quite uncertain. Of far greater importance is the *Nītiçataka* of Bhartṛhari, which has already been noticed. Under the avaricious Çaṅkaravarman (883–902) of Kashmir wrote Bhallaṭa, who suffered severely from the failure of the king to reward poets. His Çataka¹ is carefully elaborated and in varied metres, and it is clear that it is not wholly original; at least one stanza of Ānandavardhana, his earlier contemporary, is included in it.¹ Bhallaṭa wrote also a good deal of other poetry, to judge from citations in the anthologies, which include many well-turned verses. His style is usually fairly simple: