अवन्तिसुन्दरीकथासारः /16

xiv AVANTISUNDARĪ KĀTHĀ SĀRA
 

 
In his work, Dandin gives an account of himself and his
ṇḍin 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

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

Bhaāravi, was patronised by Vişnuvardhana, Ganga Durvinīta
and Pallava Simhaviṣṇuvardhana, Gaṅga Durvinīta
and Pallava Siṁhaviṣṇu. 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 sṇḍin as a great poet
and śaivite was the same as the author of Kirātārjunīya, the
s
śaivaite poet referred to in the Aihole inscription of 636 A.D.

Dandṇḍin, 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.
 

 
The texiv
 
Thet of the Kathāsāra presented in the following
pages is based on the collation of two manuscripts (क, ख) and
the printed text of the Kathāsāra presented in the following
pages is based on the collation of two manuscripts (,) and
the printed text (T ग ) issued in 1924. One of the manuscripts

( क ) 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, ( ख ) 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 Dandṇḍin's
original avan
original Avantisundarī wherever necessary. I express my

indebtedness to Dr. V. Raghavan for placing his manuscript
 

 
[^1]. Av. P. 154.
 
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