A History of Sanskrit Literature c21.s3.3

c21.s3.3

In Daṇḍin, however, we are far from the period when an exercise in style is aimed at. The main interest of the romance lies in the substance,¹ with its vivid and picturesque account of low life and adventure, of magicians and fraudulent holy men, of princesses and ruined kings, of hetairai, of expert thieves, of fervent lovers, who in a dream or by a prophecy are urged on to seek the beloved. The world of the gods is regarded with singularly little respect, and the ministers to holiness are equally far from finding favour. Not that there is a total disregard of moral considerations; one prince consoles himself for his action in seeking to secure the wife of another, and slaying to fulfil the end, by moral principles. It is legitimate according to the text-books to abandon one of the three ends of man, duty, profit, and love, if it tends to the attainment of the other two, and if he has violated duty he has enabled his parents to escape from captivity, has secured himself the delights of love and the possession of a realm. Apahāravarman again is a prince of thieves; he plans on the model laid down by Karṇīsuta, author of an unhappily lost text-book on the art, to rob a city in order, it is true, to reimburse an unfortunate who has been robbed by a hetaira;