A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.s4.3.1

c19.s4.3.1

It appears from the coincidence of the two recensions that the original was divided into eighteen Lambhakas as its main divisions, and it is a plausible conjecture that the term applies to the victories of the hero, each section dealing with some achievement of his. As we have it in both our sources, the work begins with the Kathāpīṭha, which gives as an introduction to the tale the legend of Guṇāḍhya already noted. In Book ii, the basis of the story is furnished in the adventures of Udayana, which are carried in iii to his winning of Padmāvatī, the book taking its style Lāvānaka from the place where the first queen, Vāsavadattā, was reported to have perished, a necessary preliminary to the second espousals. In iv we have the birth of the hero, Naravāhanadatta, who is to be the emperor of the Vidyādharas. The next book, Caturdārikā, is decidedly episodical. The Vidyādhara Çaktivega comes to visit the future sovereign, and relates how he himself has reached the wonderful city of the Vidyādharas and won the four beauteous maidens whence the title of the book is derived. From this point Kṣemendra and Somadeva diverge vitally. Kṣemendra continues with the legend of Sūryaprabha (vi), a strange and remarkable tale, of how that hero rose from royal rank to becoming emperor of the Vidyādharas after a desperate struggle against his foe Çrutaçarman, who was finally induced to content himself with a minor kingdom, thanks to the direct personal intervention of Çiva himself.