A History of Sanskrit Literature c21.s6.2

c21.s6.2

Of Bāṇa's date we are approximately certain; he must have been fairly young when Harṣavardhana in his greatness patronized him, and we have no reason to suppose that he first became acquainted with the king early in his reign.¹ It is assumed in the *Harṣacarita* that the king disposed of his enemy, the Gauḍa king, and as reference is made to the king's vow to assume the garb of a Buddhist mendicant when he has punished his brother's murder, we may assume that Bāṇa was well aware of the Buddhist sentiments which Hiuen Tsang so fully records. We may hold, therefore, that Bāṇa wrote late in his reign, which ended in 647, and this is borne out by his mention of the *Vāsavadattā*, which he clearly imitated. Of the legend which makes him a son-in-law of the poet Mayūra we can find no confirmation in his narrative, for among his associates he merely mentions a snake-doctor Mayūraka, and it would be amazing if he really passed over without allusion his being his father-in-law. He was, it will be seen, a Brahmin of pure race, of means, and royal favour, but he was clearly far from bigoted; he presents to us abundant and detailed proof of the amity in which Buddhists and very many kinds of Hindu sectaries lived together, discussing and disputing, but without the rancour which the Chinese pilgrim's reports suggest sometimes showed itself against the Buddhists.