Essay name: Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala (study)
Author:
Shri N. M. Kansara
Affiliation: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda / Department of Sanskrit Pali and Prakrit
This is an English study of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala, a Sanskrit poem written in the 11th century. Technically, the Tilaka-manjari is classified as a Gadyakavya (鈥減rose-romance鈥�). The author, Dhanapala was a court poet to the Paramara king Munja, who ruled the Kingdom of Malwa in ancient west-central India.
Chapter 1 - The Author (biography of Dhanapala)
20 (of 59)
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19
after A.D.1111. Before that he was a staunch Brahmin
scholar well-versed in the Veda, Smrti,stoma and sacrifi-
67 cial = ritual. By this time Dhanapala must have been
68 at least fifty seven years of age. Till then his relation
wit with Bhoja must have been very cordial and he was
considered as one of the indespensable scholars of
Bhoja's famous assembly of five hundred pundits.
But, according to the Jain tradition as preserved
in the PRC and PC, this relation steadily deteriorated
after the change of faith on the part of a well-versed
staunch Brahmin like Dhanapala whom the Jains considered
as a valuable asset and a worthy defender of their faith
- rather worthier in that he was a royally recognized
superior to all other pundits of Bhoja's court and a
prized product of the Brahmanical faith in which they
were trying to make inroads. This must have put Bhoja
himself on the defensive in favour of the Brahmanical
religion, a staunch votary of which he himself was.The
anecdota about the dialogues between Bhoja and Dhanap膩la
cdote
68.67.PRC,17.53: 啶掂啶︵じ啷嵿ぎ啷冟い啶� 啶多啶班啶むた啶膏啶む啶お啶距ぐ啶椸 啶ぃ啷嵿ぁ啶苦い啷嬥そ啶椸啶班啶� 啷� 啶曕啶む啶ぞ
啶曕啶む啶啶粪 啶ㄠた啶粪啶｀ぞ啶む
[vedasm峁泃i 艣rutistomap膩raga岣� pa峁囜笉ito'graja岣� | k峁泃y膩
k峁泃ye峁 ni峁ａ箛膩ta岣�
] www
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68.This is in view of the discussion in the next
chapter where the year of Dhanap膩la's birth is
tentatively fixed at about 955 A.D., and Bhoja was
coronated by about 999 A.D. After twelve years, i.e.
by about 1011-12, Sobhana could not have met Dha-
napala, who must, then, be about fifty-seven years
or age.
