A History of Sanskrit Literature c21.s3.6

c21.s3.6

The realism of Daṇḍin’s outlook is entirely in accord with one strain of Indian tradition, that which from the *Ṛgveda* onwards notes and describes the sins of the gods, without any moral protest. It stands out the more prominently when it is compared with the pious attitude of the author of the Pūrvapīṭhikā. To him the sacrifice is the power that brings the gods; Rājahaṅsa is praised because of his devotion to the priests, the gods on earth, while Daṇḍin denies them that appellation save in one passage where his use for them of *dharaṇītala-taitila* is sneering, the term meaning also ‘rhinoceroses’. The king’s domestic priest possesses the full holiness of Brahman himself, and despite his appalling deeds the Brahmin Mātaṅga, because he died in saving another Brahmin, after an interesting tour of inspection of Yama’s hells is restored to life, and by his devotion to Çiva is rewarded with the aid of Rājavāhana to enable him to win an Asura princess and lordship of the nether regions. Not valour but Çiva’s club gives the king of Mālava victory over Rājahaṅsa. Daṇḍin makes a joke out of Mārkaṇḍeya’s curse which condemns Suratamañjarī, whose pearl necklace fell on the ascetic when bathing, to become a silver chain. The Pūrvapīṭhikā parts Çāmba from his wife for two months because of the curse of a water-fowl. The princes no longer are free agents; the great Vāmadeva and his acolytes protect and guard the father and the princess; Rājavāhana can win his princess only by a Brahmin’s aid.