अवन्तिसुन्दरीकथासारः /12

X AVANTISUNDARĪ KĀTHA SARA
 

 
 
battle, after deposing Brhadratha.ṛhadratha.[^1] Puşṣyamitra is said to

have waited long before he could formally assume the imperial

power, and Dandṇḍin's version brings out the new fact that

Puşṣyamitra had on his way to the throne an adversary in the

person of Müūladeva, who had killed his son Sumitra.
 
X
 

 
Bāņṇa alludes to Müūladeva in his Harşṣacarita. The

manuscript of the work in the Trivandrum Palace Library

reads the passage referring to the assassination of Sumitra thus
 

 
-
 
-- अतिदयितलास्यस्य च मूर्धानमसिलतया मृणालमिवालुनाद् अग्निमित्राग्रजस्य

सुमित्रस्य मूलदेवः । It means that Müūladeva having been in the
 

midst of actors cut off the head of Sumitra, the elder brother

of Agnimitra. It is now plain that Sumitra was an elder son of

Puşṣyamitra and Vasumitra, his grandson. One was an addict

of dancing and lost his life: and the other was a distinguished

bowman who conquered the Yavanas on the bank of the river

Sindhu, as is seen in the Maālavikāgnimitra of Kalidasa.
 
ālidāsa.
 
Müūladeva is an outstanding figure in the kathā literature

in Sanskrit, and several stories, often mutually conflicting,

have gathered round his name. In his introductory verses,

Dandṇḍin refers Müūladeva as an author of a work on Nārāyaṇa-

datta and Devadattā; the Padmapraābhṛtaka, a Bhāṇa attributed

to Sūdraka, which has for its plot the love between Müladeva
ūladeva
and Devadattaā exhibits Müūladeva alias Karnṇisuta as proficient

in all arts. The Haram ekhalā, a Prākrit work on medicine

and perfumery by Maāhuka (900 A.D.) refers to the love

between Müūladeva and Devadatta and characterises him as
ā[^2] and characterises him as
'vidagdha-cuūḍāmaniṇi'[^3] ( a beau ideal ). The love story of

Müūladeva and Devadattā is dealt with in the Kumaārapaāla-

pratibodha of the Jain author Somaprabha; and in it Müūla-

deva is said to be a beautiful person, proficient in all kalās

and a fountain of all good qualities. In Kṣemendra's Kalā-
vilä
vilāsa, Müūladeva figures as a teacher of Kalaās. In the

Kathasaritsaāsaritsāgara, Somadeva connects Müūladeva with several

legendary figures. An old Maharashtra tale mentions Müladeva
ūladeva
as the king of Venṇṇāyaştaṣta[^4 and an ideal ruler of his land.
 
] and an ideal ruler of his land.
 
[^1]. Av. p. 184.
 

[^2]. TSS. No. 124, p. 35.
 

[^3]. Ibid, No. 136, p. 72.
 

[^4]. Ocean of Story, Penzer, VII, 217-9. Bhikṣuprabhamati
 

in his commentary Cāṇakyatîṭīkā on the Artha sastra
 
āstra(II,
 

11) states that Vennṇṇayata was in the Vidarbha (Cf. country
 

वैदर्भविषये वेण्णाक(१ य) टपाखेंर्श्वे जातं सभाराष्ट्रकम् । )
 
4,