काव्यमीमांसा (महाकवि राजशेखर - कवि-रहस्य एवं देश-विभाग सटीक)

206 EXPLANATORY NOTES
addition to the Mṛcchakaṭika. Kṣīrasvāmin in his commentary on
the Amarakośa (2. 8. 2) quotes a set of anonymous verses where
the word S'ūdraka is mentioned as the name of a Cakravarti king,
who is identified with Agnimitra. The verse in question is
as follows:—
विक्रमादित्यः साहसाङ्कः शकान्तकः ।
शूद्रकस्त्वग्निमित्रो वा हालः स्यात्सातवाहनः ॥
Now, it is well known that Agnimitra was the son of the
S'uṅga conqueror Puṣyamitra who flourished in the second century
B. C. That S'ūdraka was a very noble and highly respected king
like Harṣa and Udayana, is known from a reference found in the
Hṛdayaṅgamā, a commentary on the Kāvyādarśa, (1-15) which
runs as: सदाश्रयम्–हर्षशूद्रकोदयनादिसत्पुरुषाश्रयम् ।
The prologue of the Mṛcchakaṭika mentions that S'ūdraka
performed a horse-sacrifice or Aśvamedha, saw his son ruling the
country and entered the fire after having lived for 100 years and
ten days. The above leads us to infer that the hero of the Māla-
vikāgnimitra was probably identical with king S'ūdraka the author
of the Mṛcchakaṭika. The fact that Agnimitra also was a great
poet and was as far-famed as Bhāsa and others, is borne out by
Vākpatirāja in his verse:
भासम्मि जलणमित्ते कुन्तीदेवे अ जस्स रहुआरे । गउडवहो—800.
Here ज्वलनमित्र is no other than Agnimitra.
The introduction of a Buddhist monk to save the life of
Vasantasenā in the Mṛcchakaṭika, and the part played by Paṇḍita
Parivrājikā, presumably a Buddhist nun, as the adviser of queen
Dhāriṇī in the Mālavikāgnimitra, also show that during the reign
of Agnimitra or S'ūdraka, Buddhism was held in high esteem.
The following facts, mentioned in the prologue of the Mṛcchakaṭika,
(1) द्विजमुख्यतम (2) ऋग्वेदं सामवेदम् (3) राजानं वीक्ष्य पुत्रं परमसमुदयेनाश्वमेधेन चेष्ट्वा
लब्ध्वा चायुः शताब्दं दशदिनसहितं शूद्रकोऽग्निं प्रविष्टः । tally in principal details with
the historical facts known about the S'uṅgas. We know from
history that Puṣyamitra and his son Agnimitra were the Brahmins
of the S'uṅgagotra and belonged to the Sāma Veda, and that
Puṣyamitra performed an Aśvamedha sacrifice in order to assume
the title of Cakravartin. It is worthy of note that the same facts
are recorded in the Mṛcchakaṭika. If the proposed identity of