अवन्तिसुन्दरीकथासारः /3

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BJWL FCP
 

 
GN092092
 

 
INTRODUCTION
 

 
The discovery of Avantisundarī of Ācārya Daṇḍin in the
early decades of the present century is one of the most

early decades of the present century is one of the most
important events in the literary history of Sanskrit. The

peripatetic party attached to the Government Oriental Library,

Madras, brought to light in 1916-9, a fragment of a prose

romance called Avantisundariī-kathal and a fairly large
ā[^1] and a fairly large
metrical summary called Avantisundariī-kathāsaraā[^2 and they
] and they
were published in the Dakṣiṇabhāratiī Series, No. 3, in 1924.

It was gathered from the two fragments that the prose

fragment was a part of the long lost preliminary portion of

the Avantisundarī of Daṇḍin, that the so called Daśakumāra-'

carita (hereafter referred to as Daśakumāra), the middle

portion and that the Pūrvapīṭhikā in most printed editions,

a patch-work by a later hand. Some papers were published

in research journals bearing on the literary and historical

data furnished by the fragments. A few scholars however

expressed their doubt in regard to Dandṇḍin's authorship of

the prose romance. Dr. S. K. De who belongs to the section

of Sanskritists that places Dandin earlier than Bāṇa, held

that the fragment was a revised version by a later hand of

the lost portion of the Avantisundarī, on the ground of

disparity in style seen in it and in the Daśakumara.āra.[^3] And

Dr. A. B. Keith went further, even to the extent of

saying that the fragment should not have been published[^4]!

Soon after, however, another fragment of the same work but

much larger in extent was discovered, containing the continu-

ation of the smaller fragment, to a considerable length. This

fragment, as will be seen in the sequel, convincingly answers
the scepticism on the part of scholars in regard to the

the scepticism on the part of scholars in regard to the
authenticity af Dandṇḍin's authorship of the prose romance.
 

 
A few words may be said here about the discovery of this

fragment. When I was collecting manuscripts for the

Trivandrum Curator's Office in June 1925, I came across a

big bundle of dishevelled foilos of ancient palm leaf manus-

cripts, along with other manuscripts of wellknown Sanskrit

works, in the house of a Namburi gentleman, in Muvattupuzha,
 

 
[^1 and ] and [^2] are referred to in the footnotes as Av. and Av. Sara
āra
respectively.
 

 
[^3]. I.H.R. Vol. III. pp. 395-403.
 

 
[^4]. Vide preface to his History of Sanskrit Literature

(Oxford, 1928, p. XVI.)
 

 
A