2023-02-26 04:07:18 by ambuda-bot
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AVANTISUNDARĪ KATHĀ SĀRA
added, the work came to be called Daśakumāracarita, the
stories in it being divided into Ucchväsas. It is said that the
Purvapiṭhikā corresponds with the Telugu rendering of
Dandin's Daśakumāra by Ketana who flourished in the middle
of the 13th century A.D.,¹ and it is likely therefore that the
revision of the work in its present form took place before
1250 A.D. T'he editors of the Daśakumara and of the Avanti-
sundarī have pointed out several divergences in the Purva-
piṭhikā; but the Kathāsāra brings out the omissions, additions,
and contradictions contained in it in full relief.
iv
Tradition has it that Dandin wrote three works which were
known in all the worlds. Among them, his Kavyadarśa, a
work on poetics, has come down to us in three sections intact;
and it has been largely quoted by later authors. The second
work, the Avantisundari, has not, for reasons unknown, got
wide currency for many centuries past. The third is said to
be a śleṣa kāvya, a literary tour de force which is now lost
beyond recovery. Dandin is famous for his sweet style and
charming diction; Ganga Devi, the gifted poetess, characterizes
his words as soaked in ambrosia and as a mirror of the Muse.2
Evidently it is his romance in its perfect form that has
elicited this encomium from an appreciative posterity. No
student of Dandin will fail to recollect the nameless charm
that pertains to his writing when they read the Avantisundari.
The Avantisundari, like the Kādambari of Bāṇa, is a lengthy
leisurely prose work, its continuous narrative not being divided
into Ucchvāsas. Like the Harşacarita of Baņa, it has a
metrical invocation of deities and ancient poets. After this the
prose part begins with a description of Kāñcī, its ruler
Simhaviṣṇu, an account of the poet's family and the miracle
leading to the composition of the work. The work does not
conform strictly to the rules of an Akhyāyikā or to those of a
Katha, but we should remember that Dandin, in his poetics,
refuses to accept the fine distinctions between those two species
of prose compositions as laid down by ancient poetics. It is full
of miraculous stories meant mainly for amusement, where
distance of time and space has no value and human problems
are often solved by rebirths.
1,
Q.J.M.S. 13, p. 681.
2. आचार्यदण्डिनो वाचामाचान्तामृतसंपदाम् ।
विकासो वेधसः पत्न्या विलासमणिदर्पणम् ॥ Madhurāvijaya I. 10.
added, the work came to be called Daśakumāracarita, the
stories in it being divided into Ucchväsas. It is said that the
Purvapiṭhikā corresponds with the Telugu rendering of
Dandin's Daśakumāra by Ketana who flourished in the middle
of the 13th century A.D.,¹ and it is likely therefore that the
revision of the work in its present form took place before
1250 A.D. T'he editors of the Daśakumara and of the Avanti-
sundarī have pointed out several divergences in the Purva-
piṭhikā; but the Kathāsāra brings out the omissions, additions,
and contradictions contained in it in full relief.
iv
Tradition has it that Dandin wrote three works which were
known in all the worlds. Among them, his Kavyadarśa, a
work on poetics, has come down to us in three sections intact;
and it has been largely quoted by later authors. The second
work, the Avantisundari, has not, for reasons unknown, got
wide currency for many centuries past. The third is said to
be a śleṣa kāvya, a literary tour de force which is now lost
beyond recovery. Dandin is famous for his sweet style and
charming diction; Ganga Devi, the gifted poetess, characterizes
his words as soaked in ambrosia and as a mirror of the Muse.2
Evidently it is his romance in its perfect form that has
elicited this encomium from an appreciative posterity. No
student of Dandin will fail to recollect the nameless charm
that pertains to his writing when they read the Avantisundari.
The Avantisundari, like the Kādambari of Bāṇa, is a lengthy
leisurely prose work, its continuous narrative not being divided
into Ucchvāsas. Like the Harşacarita of Baņa, it has a
metrical invocation of deities and ancient poets. After this the
prose part begins with a description of Kāñcī, its ruler
Simhaviṣṇu, an account of the poet's family and the miracle
leading to the composition of the work. The work does not
conform strictly to the rules of an Akhyāyikā or to those of a
Katha, but we should remember that Dandin, in his poetics,
refuses to accept the fine distinctions between those two species
of prose compositions as laid down by ancient poetics. It is full
of miraculous stories meant mainly for amusement, where
distance of time and space has no value and human problems
are often solved by rebirths.
1,
Q.J.M.S. 13, p. 681.
2. आचार्यदण्डिनो वाचामाचान्तामृतसंपदाम् ।
विकासो वेधसः पत्न्या विलासमणिदर्पणम् ॥ Madhurāvijaya I. 10.