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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
6
The contest here described may or may not be the same as the
one mentioned by Madhusudana. The prominent part played by
Mayura in both competitions would, however, make the identi-
fication possible. But, apart from that question, it is interesting
to note, by way of comment, that the break in the text, if filled
in, might possibly give the title of a work by Mayūra, not now
known, perhaps including Mayūra's vakrokti stanzas,¹ which, in
Peterson's estimation, formed the introduction to some lost
work of that poet. The vakrokti stanzas deal with Siva, and
munda, 'bald-headed,' is, according to the lexicons, sometimes
used as an epithet of Siva. Possibly there is some connection
between the two compositions, but it must be confessed that the
evidence is very slight.
It has already been stated, on the authority of Madhusudana,
that Mayūra was summoned from his country by Harsa and
became a courtier of that monarch. Confirmation of this state-
ment is given by Rajasekhara, in the following śloka³ :—
aho prabhāvo vägdevya yan matangadivākaraḥ
śrtharşasya 'bhavat sabhyaḥ samo banamayurayoḥ
1 See below, p. 230-232, where the text and also the translation of
Mayüra's vakrokti stanzas are given.
* Peterson, Subhaşitävali, p. 8 of the notes at the end of the volume.
Peterson, On the Suktimuktavali of Jalhana, in JBRAS, vol. 17, part
I, p. 57-71, refers this stanza, on the authority of the Suktimuktavali and
other anthologies, to the pen of the dramatist Rajasekhara (900 A.D.).
In this he is followed by Bühler in Die indischen Inschriften, p. 14, foot-
note. Konow and Lanman, however, in their edition of the Karpura-
mañjari, p. 191, assign it to the younger Rājaśekhara who flourished 1349
A.D. (cf. Duff, Chronology of India, p. 223). But if Fleet, following
Bhandarkar, is correct in assigning the date of the composition of the
Saktimuktavali to 1247-1260 A.D. (cf. Imperial Gazetteer of India, the
second volume of Indian Empire, the article Epigraphy by J. F. Fleet,
p. 20, Oxford, 1908), stanzas of the younger Rajasekhara could not be
included, as is this stanza, in that anthology.
The text of this stanza, besides being found in the Saktimuktavali,
is also given in the Paddhati of Särngadhara (cf. the edition by Peterson,
stanza 189, Bombay Sanskrit Series no. 37, Bombay, 1888, and the partial
edition by Th. Aufrecht, ZDMG, vol. 27, p. 77), and in Parab's Subhasi-
taratnabhändägara, p. 54, stanza 36.
6
The contest here described may or may not be the same as the
one mentioned by Madhusudana. The prominent part played by
Mayura in both competitions would, however, make the identi-
fication possible. But, apart from that question, it is interesting
to note, by way of comment, that the break in the text, if filled
in, might possibly give the title of a work by Mayūra, not now
known, perhaps including Mayūra's vakrokti stanzas,¹ which, in
Peterson's estimation, formed the introduction to some lost
work of that poet. The vakrokti stanzas deal with Siva, and
munda, 'bald-headed,' is, according to the lexicons, sometimes
used as an epithet of Siva. Possibly there is some connection
between the two compositions, but it must be confessed that the
evidence is very slight.
It has already been stated, on the authority of Madhusudana,
that Mayūra was summoned from his country by Harsa and
became a courtier of that monarch. Confirmation of this state-
ment is given by Rajasekhara, in the following śloka³ :—
aho prabhāvo vägdevya yan matangadivākaraḥ
śrtharşasya 'bhavat sabhyaḥ samo banamayurayoḥ
1 See below, p. 230-232, where the text and also the translation of
Mayüra's vakrokti stanzas are given.
* Peterson, Subhaşitävali, p. 8 of the notes at the end of the volume.
Peterson, On the Suktimuktavali of Jalhana, in JBRAS, vol. 17, part
I, p. 57-71, refers this stanza, on the authority of the Suktimuktavali and
other anthologies, to the pen of the dramatist Rajasekhara (900 A.D.).
In this he is followed by Bühler in Die indischen Inschriften, p. 14, foot-
note. Konow and Lanman, however, in their edition of the Karpura-
mañjari, p. 191, assign it to the younger Rājaśekhara who flourished 1349
A.D. (cf. Duff, Chronology of India, p. 223). But if Fleet, following
Bhandarkar, is correct in assigning the date of the composition of the
Saktimuktavali to 1247-1260 A.D. (cf. Imperial Gazetteer of India, the
second volume of Indian Empire, the article Epigraphy by J. F. Fleet,
p. 20, Oxford, 1908), stanzas of the younger Rajasekhara could not be
included, as is this stanza, in that anthology.
The text of this stanza, besides being found in the Saktimuktavali,
is also given in the Paddhati of Särngadhara (cf. the edition by Peterson,
stanza 189, Bombay Sanskrit Series no. 37, Bombay, 1888, and the partial
edition by Th. Aufrecht, ZDMG, vol. 27, p. 77), and in Parab's Subhasi-
taratnabhändägara, p. 54, stanza 36.