A History of Sanskrit Literature c21.s2.1

c21.s2.1

It is very probable that it was from Guṇāḍhya that Daṇḍin derived the conception of the plot of the romance.² The device by which Naravāhanadatta and his companions, reunited after strange adventures, repeat the account of what has befallen each of them is strongly suggestive of the device by which the ten princes of Daṇḍin's tale expound their fortunes when reunited after their original separation. The idea is ingenious, for it provides a certain measure of unity in what else would be merely a series of unconnected stories. If Hertel is right, however, Daṇḍin's plan would have extended far beyond what he has accomplished; he finds allusions to a scheme which would have told of the history of king Kāmapāla and his five wives in three different births on earth, so that what we have is a mere fragment. It may be true that Daṇḍin contemplated some such work, but there is really no proof of it, and still less that he ever actually wrote it. Indeed, Hertel himself holds that he left even the *Daçakumāracarita* itself as we have it, with an abrupt beginning and incomplete, his purpose of carrying out his undertaking having been frustrated for some cause or other. This is of course conjectural, nor can any conclusion be drawn from the fact that so many efforts³ were later made to supply a beginning and to end the text to prove that, if these parts of Daṇḍin's work had ever existed, they would not have been lost. The fates of books are far too uncertain to admit of such reasoning being decisive.