Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume VIII.djvu/34

 my friend Professor R. G. Bhândârkar on the Kâlukya dates. In the Kâdambarî, then, we have testimony to the existence of the Bhagavadgîtâ in the middle of the seventh century A. C. For in that work, which, as is well known, abounds with equivoques, we have a passage which compares the royal palace to the Mahâbhârata, both being 'Anantagitâkarnanânanditanaram ,' which, as applied to the royal palace, means 'in which the people were delighted by hearing innumerable songs;' and as applied to the Mahâbhârata means 'in which Arguna was delighted at hearing the Anantagîtâ.' Anantagîtâ is evidently only another name here for Bhagavadgîtâ. The conclusion deducible from this fact is not merely that the Gîtâ existed, but that it existed as a recognised portion of the Bhârata, in the seventh century A. C. Now the Kâdambarî shows, in numerous passages, in what high esteem the Mahâbhârata was held in its days. The queen Vilâsavatî used to attend at those readings and expositions of the Mahâbhârata, which have continued down to our own times; and it was even then regarded as a sacred work of extremely high authority, in the same way as it is now. It follows., therefore, that the Gîtâ must have been several centuries old ill the time of Bânabhatta.

Prior in time to Bâna is the Indian Shakespeare, Kâlidâsa, as he is referred to in Bânabhatta's Harshakarita, and also in a copperplate inscription of the early part of the seventh century, as a poet who had then already acquired a high reputation. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to fix exactly the date at which Kâlidâsa flourished. Still, I think, we have pretty satisfactory evidence to show that the middle of the fifth century A. C. is the very latest date to which he can be referred. In a small tract (written by me in 1873), discussing Professor Weber's theory about the Râmâyana, I have pointed out that the Pañkatantra