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 8 - The Plot and the Motifs
21 (of 57)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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" 296 T墨rhtankaras once. Thus; (i) Meghavahana worships his
family-deity 艢r墨; (ii) Hariv膩hana worships the mystic
Vidy膩s in order to attain Vidy膩dharahood; (iii) The
Vidy膩dharas celebrate the occasion of the fortnightly
Holy-Bath-Geremony of Lord Rsabha's idol.
(i) Meghav膩hana's worship of the goddess Sri serves
to put the king's prowess to test at the hands of the
Vet膩la, and enables him to 蓻ngay qualify for the boon
from the goddess, whose friend Priyangusundari was, and
the descent of the latter's celestial husband to the
human plane necessitated the sublimation of the human in
Meghavahana to the superhuman. It is the mystic Vidy膩
alone which can elavate the physical plane to the level
of the astral one, which is the sphere proper for the
gods and the demons. But unless the human flesh of the
king is thoroughly purified by penance coupled with the
mystic worship, it cannot stand the dazzling powerful
Burn astral aura of the goddess whose help in the form
of a boon is required for the descent of an equally
powerful god like Jvalanaprabha. And it is this mystic
attainment by the king which, in the long run, provides
by inheritance the requisite mettle in the make up of
his son Prince Hariv膩hana who later on performs a simi-
lar, though more difficult, feat of attaining
the
