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A History of Sanskrit Literature c22.s1: 1. The Romances

A History of Sanskrit Literature c22.s1

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English

1. The Romances

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BĀNA has set a model which it was easy to admire, but infinitely hard to follow with any success, and in fact we have nothing later which can be set for a moment beside him. Criticism¹ of him was not specially intelligent; he was classed with Çīlābhaṭṭārikā, one of the few poetesses of India who used Sanskrit, as a model of the Pāñcāla style, in which sense and sound were of equal importance, an assertion in no sense true. He found an imitator in Dhanapāla, son of Sarvadeva, and brother of Çobhana; he lived under the patronage of Sīyaka and Vākpati of Dhārā, though Merutuṅga² places him also at Bhoja’s court and tells us a tale of his dispute with his family and final reconciliation to his brother. He wrote in A.D. 972–3 the Prākrit lexicon, *Pāiyalacchī*, and, after becoming a Jain, the *Ṛṣabhapañcāçikā* in fifty Prākrit stanzas. His romance is styled *Tilakamañjarī*³ after the heroine, and it has clearly been his aim to seek to draw as many parallel pictures to those of the *Kādambarī* in describing this lady’s love of Samaraketu. He recognizes his debt, and perhaps that is the best that can be said of him.

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¹ Kane, *Kādambarī*, p. xxv.

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² *Prabandhacintāmaṇi*, pp. 60 ff. (trans. Tawney).

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³ Ed. KM. 85, 1903. Cf. Jacobi, GGA. 1905, p. 379.

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Another Jain effort to rival the *Kādambarī* is seen in the *Gadyacintāmaṇi*⁴ of Oḍayadeva, alias Vādībhasiṁha, a lion to the elephants of counter disputants. He was a Digambara Jain, pupil of Puṣpasena, whom he lauds in the usual exaggerated style, and his work deals with the legend of Jīvaka or Jīvandhara, which is also the topic of the *Jīvandharacampū*. His imitation of Bāṇa is flagrant, including an effort to improve on the advice given by the sage Çukanāsa to the young Candrāpīḍa. Other Jain Kathās hardly attempt, and certainly do not reach, the stage of comparison with the true romances.¹

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⁴ Ed. Madras, 1902. Cf. Hultzsch, IA. xxxii. 240; ZDMG. lxviii. 697 f.

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¹ On the fragmentary *Avantisundarī* ascribed to Daṇḍin—wrongly—see S. K. Dé, IHQ. i. 31 ff.; iii. 395 ff.

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