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and Bhagavata Pur膩峁嘺s also are ruled out as "none of
these works as we have it, is probably older than Bh膩sa."1
But we have already found Bh膩sa to be indebted to the
epic, of which the Harivamsa forms an appendix. It
seems therefore that his source for the K峁涐梗峁嘺 story was
an earlier version on which the Harivamsa and the
As in the Dv, the weapons appear
Puranas are based.
in human form in the B膩l also.
(iii) Out of the R膩m膩ya峁嘺 plays, the Pratim膩
draws its inspiration from the second and third books of
the R膩m膩ya峁嘺. The poet takes only the story, but builds
a superstructure of his own. The statue-house, the
genealogy of Rama, the abduction of S墨t膩 by R膩va峁嘺 under
the guise of an expert on Sr膩ddha, and the absence of
Lak峁�ma峁嘺 at the time, and R膩ma's coronation in the
penance forest are the poet's departures from the epic.
He has further presented R膩ma, 艢墨t膩, Da艣aratha, Bharata,
Kaikeyi, etc. on a higher level than in the epic.
The Abhiseka Nataka deals with the story as given
in the Ki峁�kindh茫, Sundara, and Yuddha K膩峁囜笉as of the
R膩m膩ya峁嘺, and follows the epic very closely. The most
striking divergence from the epic, however, is the manner
in which the waters of the ocean are divided to provide
way
for the Lord. The Abh deals with the ha
of Rama and according to Dr. Keith, "is a somewhat
dreary summary of the corresponding books (4-6) of the
R膩m膩ya峁嘺". Hence we may conclude with a good deal
of certainty that the story in the epic is the mainstay for
the two R膩ma plays. "It seems possible that our
dramatist had known only the older or shorter redaction
of the epos which did not include the B膩lak膩峁囜笉a and
the Uttarak膩峁囜笉a".
(iv) Coming to the Udayana or historical plays, we
find it asserted that the Brhatkath膩 of Gu峁嚹乨hya is the
source of Bh膩sa.* The work being referrable to the first
century B. C., conflicts with the date we have assigned to
Bh膩sa. Further, we find many discrepancies between the
Brhatkatha (as we take it from its copies, the
Kath膩sarits膩gara and B峁沨atkath膩ma帽jar墨) and the two
plays. The elephant incident as given in the former is
1 Keith, SD, p. 100, 2 Sarup, HR, 50, p. 118. 3 SD, p. 105. 4
Meerwarth, JASB, 1917, p. 279. 5 Keith, SD, pp. 102-103; Winternitz, Problems,
p. 113.