A History of Sanskrit Literature c17.s2.15

c17.s2.15

Doubtless inspired in some degree by his predecessor, Kṣemendra, the polymath of Kashmir, wrote his *Samayamātṛkā*,¹ which perhaps means ‘mother by convention’, alluding to the fact that the hetaira-to-be is introduced by a barber as the regular go-between to an ancient expert, Kalāvatī, to be instructed in her exacting profession. The old lady, though owl-faced, crow-necked, and cat-eyed, through the passage of time since she was an expert, proves a witty instructress, and with her skilled aid the young aspirant ends by cheating a young fool and his stupid parent. Another of Kṣemendra’s numerous writings is the *Kalāvilāsa*² which in ten sections discourses of the various occupations and follies of mankind. The hero of the book is the famous Mūladeva,³ the personification of all trickery, who consents to educate in his own trade the young Candragupta whom his father entrusts to his care. We learn from him of the great spirit of cheating, Dambha, which has descended to earth and reigns among ascetics, doctors, lackeys, singers, goldsmiths, merchants, actors, and indeed all others; it has spread even to the world of beasts—witness the crane who parades himself as a penitent to snare the unwary fish, and is known even in the vegetable world—the trees wear bark garments just like ascetics. There is in certain respects a curious modernity in Kṣemendra’s pictures; he knew wandering singers and bards who went about, gipsy-like, with pots and carts, wearing their hair long, rich in children, winning many gifts by flattery and wasting by mid-day what they had received in the morning. More medieval is the complaint made of the goldsmith with his tricks to cheat those who put work in his hands. But we are back to modernity when we find that the doctor, who has quack medicines and who has killed many a patient, is at last voted a great success and cuts a splendid figure; that the astrologer, with all his hocus-pocus and his readiness to predict what his clients wish to hear, does not even know what his wife is doing behind his back; and that the seller of patent remedies, whose head is as bald as a copper kettle, is yet prepared to guarantee an infallible cure for baldness and finds purchasers. The *Darpadalana*,⁴ in seven sections, is intended to show the folly of pride whether it be based on noble birth, wealth, knowledge, beauty, courage, generosity, or asceticism. The form is not uninteresting; each section begins with some gnomic sentences, and then follows a tale in which the leading character delivers himself of a long speech which in effect is a continuation of the maxims. The Buddha appears in this role in ii, Çiva in vii, where he denounces some ascetics as not worth saving, since their passions cling to them still. The *Sevyasevakopadeça*¹ in sixty-one stanzas is a little text of advice regarding servants and their masters, the *Caturvargasaṁgraha* describes the four ends of life, morality, practical life, love, and release, characteristically with more effort in the case of love than in those of the others. The *Cārucāryāçataka*² is a century of verses laying down the rules of good behaviour, illustrating them by references to myths and tales. The work has a certain interest, because it was used by and doubtless influenced the writing of the *Nītimañjarī*³ of Dyā Dviveda (1494), which illustrates some 200 verses of maxims by tales culled from Sāyaṇa’s commentary on the *Ṛgveda*. Probably due to Kṣemendra’s influence is also the *Mugdhopadeça*⁴ of Jalhaṇa, a warning in sixty-six stanzas against the wiles of hetairai.