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232
ANTHOLOGY STANZAS ATTRIBUTED TO MAYURA
5
PĀRVATI: 'Mercy! Who can take any comfort," when that
sharp-fanged, awe-inspiring Rähu is present?'
SIVA: 'If you do not like [my] snake-necklace,¹5 I'll take
it off at once.'10
6
PĀRVATI: 'Why do you uselessly produce [these puns]?¹7
I made no reference to
your ornament.'
SIVA: '[What! not know my lap?] ¹0 That's not a nice
thing to say when you have been sitting in it¹
for a divine millenium.'
18
ng
BENEDICTION: So may the face of Bhavani (Pärvati), the
pupil of whose eye is tremulous with joy, pro-
tect you!
[This is that Pārvatī] to whom (Siva), the Lord
of Cattle, uttered <clever> puns, <like <soft>
nooses», ,20 <while at dice-play>."¹
Notes. 1. These seven stanzas are given under Mayura's name in the
Subhasitavali of Vallabhadeva, 123-129 (ed. Peterson, Bombay, 1886), and
also, but without indication of the name of their author, in the Alamkara-
sarvasva of Rājānaka Ruyyaka (fl. between 1128 and 1149 A.D.; cf. Duff,
Chronology, p. 142, and especially H. Jacobi, in ZDMG, vol. 62, p. 291).
In Ruyyaka's work they are given as an illustration of vakrokti, which is
defined in the Alamkārasarvasva (translated by Jacobi in ZDMG, vol. 62,
p. 609) as follows: 'Wenn ein in bestimmtem Sinne gesprochener Satz
durch Betonung oder Sleşa in anderem Sinne genommen wird, (so ist das
die Figur) Vakrokti. Perhaps 'punning in dialogue' best expresses in
English the idea of vakrokti. For an exhaustive treatment of this rhetor-
ical device, see the articles by Carl Bernheimer and Hermann Jacobi, in
ZDMG, 63 (1909), p. 797-821; 64 (1910), p. 130-139, 586-590, 751-759. The
Alamkārasarvasva has been edited, with the commentary of Jayaratha, in
the Kävyamālā Series, by Durgāprasad and Parab, Bombay, 1893 (see p.
176-177 for Mayūra's stanzas), and translated, with valuable introduction
and notes, by Hermann Jacobi, in ZDMG, 62 (1908), p. 289-336, 411-458,
597-628 (Mayūra's stanzas on p. 610); cf. also Lüders, Würfelspiel im
alten Indien, p. 66, note 1. 2. I have adopted, in general, the text and
ANTHOLOGY STANZAS ATTRIBUTED TO MAYURA
5
PĀRVATI: 'Mercy! Who can take any comfort," when that
sharp-fanged, awe-inspiring Rähu is present?'
SIVA: 'If you do not like [my] snake-necklace,¹5 I'll take
it off at once.'10
6
PĀRVATI: 'Why do you uselessly produce [these puns]?¹7
I made no reference to
your ornament.'
SIVA: '[What! not know my lap?] ¹0 That's not a nice
thing to say when you have been sitting in it¹
for a divine millenium.'
18
ng
BENEDICTION: So may the face of Bhavani (Pärvati), the
pupil of whose eye is tremulous with joy, pro-
tect you!
[This is that Pārvatī] to whom (Siva), the Lord
of Cattle, uttered <clever> puns, <like <soft>
nooses», ,20 <while at dice-play>."¹
Notes. 1. These seven stanzas are given under Mayura's name in the
Subhasitavali of Vallabhadeva, 123-129 (ed. Peterson, Bombay, 1886), and
also, but without indication of the name of their author, in the Alamkara-
sarvasva of Rājānaka Ruyyaka (fl. between 1128 and 1149 A.D.; cf. Duff,
Chronology, p. 142, and especially H. Jacobi, in ZDMG, vol. 62, p. 291).
In Ruyyaka's work they are given as an illustration of vakrokti, which is
defined in the Alamkārasarvasva (translated by Jacobi in ZDMG, vol. 62,
p. 609) as follows: 'Wenn ein in bestimmtem Sinne gesprochener Satz
durch Betonung oder Sleşa in anderem Sinne genommen wird, (so ist das
die Figur) Vakrokti. Perhaps 'punning in dialogue' best expresses in
English the idea of vakrokti. For an exhaustive treatment of this rhetor-
ical device, see the articles by Carl Bernheimer and Hermann Jacobi, in
ZDMG, 63 (1909), p. 797-821; 64 (1910), p. 130-139, 586-590, 751-759. The
Alamkārasarvasva has been edited, with the commentary of Jayaratha, in
the Kävyamālā Series, by Durgāprasad and Parab, Bombay, 1893 (see p.
176-177 for Mayūra's stanzas), and translated, with valuable introduction
and notes, by Hermann Jacobi, in ZDMG, 62 (1908), p. 289-336, 411-458,
597-628 (Mayūra's stanzas on p. 610); cf. also Lüders, Würfelspiel im
alten Indien, p. 66, note 1. 2. I have adopted, in general, the text and