A History of Sanskrit Literature c14.30

c14.30

The *Çiçupāla-vadha*, or “Death of Çiçupāla,” describes, in twenty cantos, how that prince, son of a king of Chedi, and cousin of Kṛshṇa, was slain by Vishṇu. Having been composed by the poet Māgha, it also goes by the name of *Māgha-kāvya*. It probably dates from the ninth, and must undoubtedly have been composed before the end of the tenth century. The nineteenth canto is full of metrical puzzles, some of a highly complex character (*e.g.* 29). It contains an example of a stanza (34) which, if read backwards, is identical with the preceding one read in the ordinary way. At the same time this Kāvya is, as a whole, by no means lacking in poetical beauties and striking thoughts.