[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Literature, language and dating](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature) › [A History of Sanskrit Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.keith-1920) › c19.s2.3 # A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.s2.3 A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.s2.3 - **Language:** English ### [c19.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.keith-1920.c19.s2.3) The work preserved is merely a fragment, though there is no adequate reason to hold that it is defective at the beginning or that it ever contained anything as to the origin of the collection of tales comparable to the legend in the Kashmirian versions and the \*Nepālamāhātmya\*. It is divided into cantos (\*sargas\*), of which twenty-eight survive, probably a mere fraction of the original, though it extends to 4,539 verses. We are carried at once \*in medias res\*; Pradyota dies, and is due to be succeeded by Gopāla, but the latter, learning that he is credited with having disposed of his father, insists on his brother Pālaka reigning in lieu (i). Pālaka is a bad ruler, and is induced by what he deems divine suggestion to abandon his throne to Avantivardhana, Gopāla's son (ii). The latter falls in love with the daughter of a Mātaṅga, Surasamañjarī, who, like her father, is really of the race of the Vidyādharas; he marries her, only to be snatched away with his bride by Ipphaka (Ityaka) a jealous Vidyādhara; they are rescued by another of these genii, and the emperor Naravāhana pronounces judgement in favour of the marriage (iii). The seers so admire the emperor's judgement that they demand from him the account of his achievement of empire; he consents to tell of the twenty-six marriages but only when Gaurī undertakes that his revelations will be kept religiously secret. He then tells the desire of his father Udayana for a son, which ultimately is granted (v, vi). When young Naravāhana grows up, he shows the signs of a Cakravartin, and a Vidyādhara, Amitagati, recognizes them and attaches himself to him; finally he wins the hand of Madanamañjukā, daughter of Kaliṅgasenā who, however, is a hetaira, thus rendering a true union impossible (vii–xi). One day Madanamañjukā disappears, but is found under an Açoka; she relates that Kubera has demanded that she should be really married to Naravāhanadatta; this desire is conceded, but shortly after the king makes the unpleasant discovery that in lieu of his beloved he is really consorting with Vegavatī. She reveals herself to him as sister of Mānasavega, a Vidyādhara, who has taken Madanamañjukā, but who cannot do her harm, just as Rāvaṇa could not put force on Sītā in her captivity. Naravāhanadatta celebrates a new marriage with her, but immediately after he is carried off by Mānasavega; falling to earth, he finds himself in a well but is rescued (xii–xv). He is now lost, and posing as a student commences a new adventure, ending in marriage with Gandharvadattā, daughter of Sānudāsa whose history is narrated at length (xvi–xviii). Two further marriages are in wait for him, that with Ajināvatī (xix, xx), and that with Priyadarçanā, whose bosom he recognized when it was revealed for a moment when she was posing as a merchant (xxi–xxvii). The next canto gives us only the beginning of a new marriage adventure, and, as so many more were still before him, the extent of the work can be guessed. - [Previous: c19.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.keith-1920.c19.s2.2) - [Next: c19.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.keith-1920.c19.s2.4) - [Up: c19.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.keith-1920.c19.s2) ## Linked texts (3) - [Bṛhatkathāślokasaṃgraha](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.brhatkatha.slokasangraha) — Budhasvāmin, Sanskrit - [Bṛhatkathā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.brhatkatha) - [Nepālamāhātmya](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.sthala.nepalamahatmya) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.keith-1920.c19.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.keith-1920.c19.s2.3) · Pramāṇa