2023-02-23 18:48:27 by ambuda-bot
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
45
The king mopes, pining for his favorite. One night he com-
poses a half-stanza. Next day he assembles the poets, recites to
them the half-stanza, and enjoins them to complete it under pain
of being banished from the kingdom. They go home and seek
to compose the missing part, but none of them is successful.
Finally they send Bāṇa as spokesman to request a delay of eight
days, promising to give the desired missing part on the ninth day,
or else to depart. Eight days pass. On the ninth, Bāṇa tells the
assembled poets, who have meanwhile been unable to complete
the stanza, that the reason of their failure is the fact that they
caused the banishment of Kālidāsa.
At this point in the story Mayūra is introduced as an active or
leading spirit, but it is uncertain whether, on the strength of
mayürādayaḥ, 'beginning with Mayūra,' we are justified in at-
tributing the following remarks and śloka to the mouth of that
poet alone. At any rate, I will append them as such, and the
reader may exercise his judgment in the matter :-
tataḥ sarve gāḍham kalahayante sma mayürādayaś ca tatas te sarvän
kalahan nivärya sadyaḥ prahuḥ-adyāiva ʼvadhiḥ pūrṇaḥ । kalidāsam anta-
rena na kasyacit samarthyam asti samasyapurane
sangrame subhaṭendrāṇām kavīnām kavimaṇḍale
diptir va diptihānir va muhürtenäiva jāyate
yadi rocate tato 'dydiva madhyarătre pramuditacandramasi nigūḍham eva
gacchamaḥ sampattisambhāram adaya । yadi na gamyate śvo rājasevakā
asmān balān niḥsarayanti । tada dehamātreṇāivăā 'smäbhir gantavyam । tada
'dya madhyarătre gamişyāmaḥ । iti sarve niścitya grham agatya balivarda-
vyadhesu sakateşu sampadbhāram dropya rātrāv eva nişkrāntaḥ¹
'Then all, beginning with Mayūra, kept bickering much. Then these,
suddenly suppressing all their bickerings, said: "To-day, indeed, time is
up. No one, with the exception of Kālidāsa, is able to complete the stanza;
[for it is said] :-
'For Indra-like warriors in the battle, for poets in the circle of poets,
Fame, or loss of fame, is born just in a moment.'
""If it pleases you therefore, just to-day, at midnight, in the gladsome
moonlight, we will go forth secretly, taking what is needful for our wel-
fare. If we do not go, to-morrow the servants of the king will cause
us to leave by force; in that case, we shall verily have to go with our
bodies only [i.e. without our possessions]. So to-day, at midnight, we
1 Parab's 2d edition, p. 30-31. The stanza is no. 151 of the Bhojaprabandha.
45
The king mopes, pining for his favorite. One night he com-
poses a half-stanza. Next day he assembles the poets, recites to
them the half-stanza, and enjoins them to complete it under pain
of being banished from the kingdom. They go home and seek
to compose the missing part, but none of them is successful.
Finally they send Bāṇa as spokesman to request a delay of eight
days, promising to give the desired missing part on the ninth day,
or else to depart. Eight days pass. On the ninth, Bāṇa tells the
assembled poets, who have meanwhile been unable to complete
the stanza, that the reason of their failure is the fact that they
caused the banishment of Kālidāsa.
At this point in the story Mayūra is introduced as an active or
leading spirit, but it is uncertain whether, on the strength of
mayürādayaḥ, 'beginning with Mayūra,' we are justified in at-
tributing the following remarks and śloka to the mouth of that
poet alone. At any rate, I will append them as such, and the
reader may exercise his judgment in the matter :-
tataḥ sarve gāḍham kalahayante sma mayürādayaś ca tatas te sarvän
kalahan nivärya sadyaḥ prahuḥ-adyāiva ʼvadhiḥ pūrṇaḥ । kalidāsam anta-
rena na kasyacit samarthyam asti samasyapurane
sangrame subhaṭendrāṇām kavīnām kavimaṇḍale
diptir va diptihānir va muhürtenäiva jāyate
yadi rocate tato 'dydiva madhyarătre pramuditacandramasi nigūḍham eva
gacchamaḥ sampattisambhāram adaya । yadi na gamyate śvo rājasevakā
asmān balān niḥsarayanti । tada dehamātreṇāivăā 'smäbhir gantavyam । tada
'dya madhyarătre gamişyāmaḥ । iti sarve niścitya grham agatya balivarda-
vyadhesu sakateşu sampadbhāram dropya rātrāv eva nişkrāntaḥ¹
'Then all, beginning with Mayūra, kept bickering much. Then these,
suddenly suppressing all their bickerings, said: "To-day, indeed, time is
up. No one, with the exception of Kālidāsa, is able to complete the stanza;
[for it is said] :-
'For Indra-like warriors in the battle, for poets in the circle of poets,
Fame, or loss of fame, is born just in a moment.'
""If it pleases you therefore, just to-day, at midnight, in the gladsome
moonlight, we will go forth secretly, taking what is needful for our wel-
fare. If we do not go, to-morrow the servants of the king will cause
us to leave by force; in that case, we shall verily have to go with our
bodies only [i.e. without our possessions]. So to-day, at midnight, we
1 Parab's 2d edition, p. 30-31. The stanza is no. 151 of the Bhojaprabandha.