2023-02-26 04:07:22 by ambuda-bot
This page has not been fully proofread.
AVANTISUNDARĪ KĀTHĀ SĀRA
In his work, Dandin gives an account of himself and his
forebears. In his younger days, when Kañchi was invaded by
enemies he left the city and roamed about from one country to
another. This incident must have afforded him opportunities
of coming into contact with several sorts of people and of
observing at first hand different sides of life, which are vividly
exhibited in his work. He was a votary of Viṣṇu and obtain-
ed inspiration from Him for writing his work.
His concep-
tion of mokṣa is the enjoyment of the highest bliss in the
presence of the God.¹ He was a court-poet of a Pallava king;
and Dāmodara, his great-grandfather and an associate of poet
Bharavi, was patronised by Vişnuvardhana, Ganga Durvinīta
and Pallava Simhaviṣṇu. The three kings of these three
same names are also known from inscriptions as rulers of
various provinces of the Deccan in the beginning of the 7th
century A.D. Bhāravi mentioned by Dandin as a great poet
and saivite was the same as the author of Kirātārjunīya, the
saivaite poet referred to in the Aihole inscription of 636 A.D.
Dandin, the fourth descendant of Damodara, may be assigned
to the early part of the 8th century A.D. He was familiar
with Bāṇa's Kādambarī which must have by this time attained
wide celebrity.
xiv
The text of the Kathāsāra presented in the following
pages is based on the collation of two manuscripts (,) and
the printed text (T) issued in 1924. One of the manuscripts
() was obtained from Travancore; it is written in Malayalam
characters on palm leaves and is fairly correct but contains
gaps at the end. The other, () is a Devanagari transcript
belonging to Dr. V. Raghavan copied from an original palm-
leaf manuscript with Dr. C. Kunhan Raja. This manuscript
is of the same extent as the printed text; it begins with a
table of contents in prose for the first chapter and contains
good variants. The text appeared in the Journal of Oriental
Research, Madras, as its supplement, in Vols. XIV-XIX. It is
now issued in book form with an Introduction and a summary
of Contents. The Kathāsāra is at times very brief; to make
the summary more informative, I have drawn from Dandin's
original avan tisundarī wherever necessary. I express my
indebtedness to Dr. V. Raghavan for placing his manuscript
1. Av. P. 154.
4
In his work, Dandin gives an account of himself and his
forebears. In his younger days, when Kañchi was invaded by
enemies he left the city and roamed about from one country to
another. This incident must have afforded him opportunities
of coming into contact with several sorts of people and of
observing at first hand different sides of life, which are vividly
exhibited in his work. He was a votary of Viṣṇu and obtain-
ed inspiration from Him for writing his work.
His concep-
tion of mokṣa is the enjoyment of the highest bliss in the
presence of the God.¹ He was a court-poet of a Pallava king;
and Dāmodara, his great-grandfather and an associate of poet
Bharavi, was patronised by Vişnuvardhana, Ganga Durvinīta
and Pallava Simhaviṣṇu. The three kings of these three
same names are also known from inscriptions as rulers of
various provinces of the Deccan in the beginning of the 7th
century A.D. Bhāravi mentioned by Dandin as a great poet
and saivite was the same as the author of Kirātārjunīya, the
saivaite poet referred to in the Aihole inscription of 636 A.D.
Dandin, the fourth descendant of Damodara, may be assigned
to the early part of the 8th century A.D. He was familiar
with Bāṇa's Kādambarī which must have by this time attained
wide celebrity.
xiv
The text of the Kathāsāra presented in the following
pages is based on the collation of two manuscripts (,) and
the printed text (T) issued in 1924. One of the manuscripts
() was obtained from Travancore; it is written in Malayalam
characters on palm leaves and is fairly correct but contains
gaps at the end. The other, () is a Devanagari transcript
belonging to Dr. V. Raghavan copied from an original palm-
leaf manuscript with Dr. C. Kunhan Raja. This manuscript
is of the same extent as the printed text; it begins with a
table of contents in prose for the first chapter and contains
good variants. The text appeared in the Journal of Oriental
Research, Madras, as its supplement, in Vols. XIV-XIX. It is
now issued in book form with an Introduction and a summary
of Contents. The Kathāsāra is at times very brief; to make
the summary more informative, I have drawn from Dandin's
original avan tisundarī wherever necessary. I express my
indebtedness to Dr. V. Raghavan for placing his manuscript
1. Av. P. 154.
4