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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
5
stanza of Rajasekhara¹ to which I would direct attention, because
it appears to me to contain an allusion to the early vocation of
Mayūra, and represents him as still able to administer antidotes,
figuratively speaking, even after he had become a poet. The
stanza, a śloka, reads:-
darpam kavibhujanganam gata fravanagocaram
vişavidyeva mâyürî mâyürī vāṁ nikṛntati ª
'The voice of Mayūra, when it reaches the range of hearing, destroys the
<conceit> of poets,
As Mayūra's knowledge of poison destroys the <pride > of snakes.'s
The second proof that warrants the placing of Mayura in the
seventh century-the fact that his name is so often and so
persistently coupled with that of Bāṇa-will become very ap-
parent as the various quotations in which their names occur are
given in the course of the discussion.
1 The stanza in question is quoted by Prof. Peter Peterson from the
Saktimuktavali, where it is ascribed to the pen of Rajasekhara; cf. Peter-
son's article, On the Saktimuktavali of Jalhana, a new Sanskrit Anthol-
ogy, in JBRAS, vol. 17, part 1, p. 57-71. Peterson there states (p. 68)
that this Rajasekhara flourished at the beginning of the tenth century.
He must therefore be the dramatist Rajasekhara, whose date is fixed in
the tenth century by the latest researchers (cf. Konow and Lanman,
Karpara-mañjuri, p. 179, Cambridge, Mass., 1901). Besides, the date of
Jalhana's Saktimuktavali (approximately 1247 A.D., according to Mabel
Duff, Chronology of India, p. 192, Westminster, 1899) would prevent the
ascription of this verse to the younger Rājaśekhara, who flourished about
1348-1349 A.D. (cf. Duff, Chronology, p. 223, and M. Krishnamacharya,
A History of the Classical Sanskrit Literature, p. 123, Madras, 1906).
Konow and Lanman, however, do not include this verse in their list of
the anthology stanzas ascribed to Rajasekhara the dramatist (cf. Karpura-
mañjart, as cited above, p. 189-191).
Besides being in the Suktimuktavali (cf. the foregoing note 1), this
stanza is quoted in the following works: Peterson, Subhaşitävali, introd.,
p. 86; Parab and Durgaprasad, Suryafataka of Mayara, p. 1, footnote
(pub. as vol. 19 of the Kävyamālā Series, 2d ed., Bombay, 1900); and
Parab's modern anthology, the Subhasitaratnabhāṇḍāgāra, p. 54, stanza
35, 3d ed., Bombay, 1891.
& Lévi, Le Catalogue géographique des Yakşa dans la Mahamayürı, in
Journal Asiatique, 11 Sér., Tom. 5 (1915), p. 117, interprets vişavidyeva
möyürt as 'the Mãyüri, a charm against poisons,' and as a reference to this
well-known Buddhistic formula.
5
stanza of Rajasekhara¹ to which I would direct attention, because
it appears to me to contain an allusion to the early vocation of
Mayūra, and represents him as still able to administer antidotes,
figuratively speaking, even after he had become a poet. The
stanza, a śloka, reads:-
darpam kavibhujanganam gata fravanagocaram
vişavidyeva mâyürî mâyürī vāṁ nikṛntati ª
'The voice of Mayūra, when it reaches the range of hearing, destroys the
<conceit> of poets,
As Mayūra's knowledge of poison destroys the <pride > of snakes.'s
The second proof that warrants the placing of Mayura in the
seventh century-the fact that his name is so often and so
persistently coupled with that of Bāṇa-will become very ap-
parent as the various quotations in which their names occur are
given in the course of the discussion.
1 The stanza in question is quoted by Prof. Peter Peterson from the
Saktimuktavali, where it is ascribed to the pen of Rajasekhara; cf. Peter-
son's article, On the Saktimuktavali of Jalhana, a new Sanskrit Anthol-
ogy, in JBRAS, vol. 17, part 1, p. 57-71. Peterson there states (p. 68)
that this Rajasekhara flourished at the beginning of the tenth century.
He must therefore be the dramatist Rajasekhara, whose date is fixed in
the tenth century by the latest researchers (cf. Konow and Lanman,
Karpara-mañjuri, p. 179, Cambridge, Mass., 1901). Besides, the date of
Jalhana's Saktimuktavali (approximately 1247 A.D., according to Mabel
Duff, Chronology of India, p. 192, Westminster, 1899) would prevent the
ascription of this verse to the younger Rājaśekhara, who flourished about
1348-1349 A.D. (cf. Duff, Chronology, p. 223, and M. Krishnamacharya,
A History of the Classical Sanskrit Literature, p. 123, Madras, 1906).
Konow and Lanman, however, do not include this verse in their list of
the anthology stanzas ascribed to Rajasekhara the dramatist (cf. Karpura-
mañjart, as cited above, p. 189-191).
Besides being in the Suktimuktavali (cf. the foregoing note 1), this
stanza is quoted in the following works: Peterson, Subhaşitävali, introd.,
p. 86; Parab and Durgaprasad, Suryafataka of Mayara, p. 1, footnote
(pub. as vol. 19 of the Kävyamālā Series, 2d ed., Bombay, 1900); and
Parab's modern anthology, the Subhasitaratnabhāṇḍāgāra, p. 54, stanza
35, 3d ed., Bombay, 1891.
& Lévi, Le Catalogue géographique des Yakşa dans la Mahamayürı, in
Journal Asiatique, 11 Sér., Tom. 5 (1915), p. 117, interprets vişavidyeva
möyürt as 'the Mãyüri, a charm against poisons,' and as a reference to this
well-known Buddhistic formula.