प्रियदर्शिका नाटिका (सम्राट हर्षवर्धन - चतुरङ्क शास्त्रीय नाटिका सान्वय सटीक)

XVI

the conclusion that this Shri Harsha of Kannauj must be the
author of these plays. First, Bana, a great court poet of
Shri Harsha, in his biography of his master (हर्षचरित), speaks
in eulogistic terms of his learning and poetical genius—"(1)
काव्यशास्त्रेष्वप्रीतममृतमुद्भवमिव" (2) "सर्वविद्यासङ्गीतगृहमिव सरस्वत्या" &c.
Allowing for the partiality of a protege for his patron and
poetic exaggeration, it cannot be doubted that Shri Harsha was
a scholar and author of some works. Secondly, the Chinese pil-
grim I-tsing, who visited India in the last quarter of the 7th
century, writes about king Shri Harsha, "King Sîladitya (i.e.
King Harsha) was exceedingly fond of literature. He
versified the story of the Bodhisatwa Jîmûtavahana (Cloud-
borne) who surrendered himself in place of a Nâga. This
version was set to music (lit.—string and pipe), he had it
performed by a band accompanied by dancing and acting, and
thus popularized it in his time" (Takakusu, I-tsing, p. 163)
This statement clearly shows that the author of the play
Naganand is king Harsha, who lived in the 7th century.
Thirdly, as we have pointed out before, Damodaragupta who
flourished at the court of Jayâpîda of Kashmir (A. D. 779-
813), quotes verses from Ratnâvalî, and praises the play as a
work of great beauty, in his work called Kuttanîmata. The
play is ascribed by him to a king, who, it is quite clear, must
be Shri Harsha, who lived in the 7th century. Fourthly,
Soddhala, who lived in the 11th century A. D., in his Udaya-
sundarîkathâ, mentions Harsha along with Vikramâditya,
Munja, and Bhoja, as being both भूपाल (king) and कवीन्द्र (prince
of poets) presiding over a literary court (सभा). In another pas-
sage Soddhala punningly refers to Harsha (Joy) as 'the glorious
Harsha' (श्रीहर्ष) whose 'joy lay in words' (गीर्हर्ष) in his own assem-
bly (निजसंसदि). The passage runs as follows :—श्रीहर्षेणेवानिर्वृतिषु पार्थिवेषु
नाद्रेव केवलमभाषत चक्षुषस्तु । गीर्हर्ष एव निजसंसदि येन रत्ना सदुज्जित कनक
कोटिशतेन बाणः ॥ Fifthly, the famous poet Jayadeva, who lived
in 11th century A. D. mentions Harsha as a poet with the
earlier poets Bhâsa and Kalidâs, and with his contemporaries
Bana and Mayura. He punningly calls Harsha the joy of
Poetry. Sixthly, Madhusudan the editor of Mayura S'ataka,
writing about A. D. 1654, says that Bâna and Mayura were
the court poets of Shri Harsha and calls Harsha 'The chief
of the race of poets and the author of the Natikâ called
Ratnâvalî, Sixthly, in several Sanskrit anthologies, such as