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 (“prose-romance�). The author, Dhanapala was a court poet to the Paramara king Munja, who ruled the Kingdom of Malwa in ancient west-central India.
Chapter 4 - Predecessors of Dhanapala
5 (of 26)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
90 17
ssness of the heroes thereof. Vyāsa is compared to the
18 moon, possibly because he was but a compiler of old epic
and Puranic ballads in contrast to the self-luminent
poet vālmīki.
(4) GUNĀDHYA : He is mentioned not by his name
but only by his work, viz, the Brhatkathā, which, acco-
19 rding to Somadeva, was originally composed in the Paisācī
Prakrit. Dhanapāla compares the work with an ocean and
acknowledges the fact that most of the prose-( as well
as the verse- ) -romances till his time borrowed the
elements of their story from this source. But this,
according to our poet, makes it only a patch-work and
detracts them from the necessary element of freshness20
It is significant that Dhanapāla has not drawn upon this
work in order that it may not prove to be a mere patch-
-work. Possibly he agreed, as a devout Jain, with Jinasena
�
[|
] 17.ʰ(Ҳ)•p.42: कानीजस्य मुने� स्वबान्धवबंध� वैधव्य विध्वंसिनो,
नेतारः कि� पञ्च गोकु� सुला� कुण्डा� स्वय� पाण्डवाः � तेडमी
पञ्च समानजातय इत� ख्यातास्� दुत्कीर्त्तल, पुण्यं स्वस्त्ययन
भवेद्यदि नृणा� पापस्य काव्या गतिः �
[kānījasya mune� svabāndhavabaṃdhū vaidhavya vidhvaṃsino,
netāra� kila pañca gokula sulā� kuṇḍā� svaya� pāṇḍavā� | teḍamī
pañca samānajātaya iti khyātāsta dutkīrttala, puṇya� svastyayana
bhavedyadi nṛṇā� pāpasya kāvyā gati� ||
] 18. See infra ft.nt. 12.
19.KSS.I.viii.2.
�
[|
] 20.TM(N) � Intro•vs�21: सत्य� बृहत्कथाम्भोधे बिन्दुमादा� संस्कृता� �
तेजेतरकथाः कन्याः प्रतिभान्त� तद� [satya� bṛhatkathāmbhodhe bindumādāya saṃskṛtā� |
tejetarakathā� kanyā� pratibhānti tad] �गत� ||२१||
[gata� ||21||
]
