Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/135

 BANABHATTA'S CHANDIKASATAKA.

APRIL 5, 1872.] ON THE

CHANDIKKSATAKA

111

of BANABHATTA.

By G. BUHLER, PH. D.

IN the learned preface to his edition of the Vásavadattá, Dr. Fitz-Edward Hall gives (pp. 8 and 49) extracts from two anonymous Jaina com mentaries on the Bhaktamarastotra of Māna

tunga, which contain curious details regarding

the text, which consists of 102 Slokas, it contains a short commentary on S'lokas 1-84,

written on the margin of each page. It has been written by a Jaina Lekhak, who, unfortun

of the Kādambari and of the Harshacharitra.

ately, was neither careful, nor a good Sanskrit scholar. Though clerical errors and even omis sions are frequent, still it is possible to re

Amongst other matters, it is stated there that

store the text of most verses.

Bâ na and M a y á r a, the author of the

B an a’s address to Ch a n dik fi is composed in the Sárdūlavikridita vritta and its style, as becomes a poet like the author of the Kā

the life of Bán a b h atta, the famous author

Sūryas'ataka, were related to each other by marriage, and that each of them composed a Sataka or century of verses in honour of a patron deity and obtained thereby liberation from great

dambari, is made to harmonise with the diffi cult metre. The tortuosity of the construc

evils.

M a y á r a, it is said, who had suddenly

tion, the double-entendres and puns, and the

become a leper, was cleansed of his disease by St rya, whom he propitiated with the Sūrya s'ataka. B fina, jealous of this feat of his brother

quaint similes in which it abounds, will make it dear to the heart of every true Pandit. But these

poet, thereupon cut off his own hands and feet,

qualities make it rather an object of serious study than of enjoyment on first hearing or

composed a Sataka in honour of C h and i kā, and through her favour obtained the restora

reading, and they render it improbable that Eu

tion of his limbs.

“uttamä kavitā,”—“first rate poetry,” which—

Dr. Hall, in giving this story, observes that,

ropean critics will accord to it the epithet of

whatever its absurdity, it may have an histo

according to the opinion of my learned native friends, to whom I showed the poem—is its due.

rical basis in making M a y á r a and B an a contemporaries, and that it deserves attention

lysis of the contents of the Sataka, as the poet

for that reason.

This surmise has also been

confirmed by B & na’s own statement in the Harshacharitra, where he names M a y ár a k a amongst his friends. I have lately found that

It is somewhat difficult to give an exact ana himself seems to have followed no fixed plan in its composition. Every stanza contains an allusion to, or a description of an incident from

Ch a n dikå's great battle with the buffalo-shaped

it contains another element of truth, viz. that

demon M a h is h a sura, and winds up with a

it is right in ascribing to B an a b h a t t a the composition of a Chandikás'ataka. Not long ago, Iacquired for the Government of Bombay a book bearing this title, which, according to its colophon, had been composed by a Ma

prayer to the goddess to protect the hearers or readers from evil, to bless them, or to destroy their enemies.

h à k a v i S'r à v an a or Sri v an a b h a t t a.

That a Chandikás'ataka should celebrate the victory of the goddess over Mahisha, is no more than might be expected ; for the Purānas

As no great poet of this name was known to me, and Dr. Hall's Jainas attributed a Chan dikás'ataka to B an a, I at once concluded

state that the Chandikā form of Siva's wife, or Sakti, was expressly created for the destruc tion of that demon. In the Devīmāhātmya,"

that Sºrāvana or Srivana must be a mis-spell

the story of Chandikå's creation, and of her con

ing for Sri Bà n a. This surmise was fully confirmed, shortly afterwards, when I obtained

test with Mahisha and his army of fiends, is narrated at great length. According to that

a copy of the commentary mentioned by Dr.

authority, the gods over whom Indra rules, were

Hall at p. 49 of his preface: for the latter work quotes the first verse of Bâna's Chandi kás'ataka, which agrees with the beginning of the soi disant S'rāvana's production. The manuscript of the Chandikás'ataka ac

driven by Mahish a out of heaven. They went to Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva to complain

quired by me is written on nine folios. Besides

That lustre, united with the flames which Indra

and to ask for help. On hearing of the Asura's boldness, these deities were moved by anger and emitted from their bodies a gre at lust re.


 * Márkandeya Purāna, Adhy. 80 seqq.