स्वप्नवासवदत्तम् (महाकवि भास - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी अनुवाद)

INTRODUCTION. xxvii
to justify such language. It is certain, therefore, that Bhâsa is far
anterior to Kâlidâsa and Udayana is still farther removed from him.
Hence, Udayana, the hero of Bhâsa's Nâtaka, has not the slightest
chance of being placed a little before Kâlidâsa. The passage, "उदयन-
कथाकोविदग्रामवृद्धान्" means really this: that the old villagers having
heard of the ancient romantic stroy of Udayana of their own village are
fond of telling the wonderful tale, as all old men are; and not that they
have seen Udayana. Thus Bhâmaha's long priority to Kâlidâsa is
confirmed. Again, Bhâmaha in discussing in his Kâvyâlankâra the
form of a Kathâ and an Âkhyâyikâ does not mention Brihatkatha which,
from the peculiarity of the Kathâ, deserves mention in that connection
and to which Dandin under the same topic in his Kâvyâdarsa refers,
"भूतभाषामयीं प्राहुरद्भूतार्थां बृहत्कथाम्".
I should therefore conclude that, at the time of Bhâmaha, Brihatkatha
had not come into existence. Only after Bhâmaha's time, those
wonderful and interesting stories were culled from Itihâsas, from Sva-
pnavâsavadatta and other Kâvyas and from folk-lore and woven by
Gunâdhya with additions of his own into that treasure house of stories
called Brihatkathâ. Gunâdhya was a contemporary of Sâlivâhana, the
founder of the era of that name. Bhâmaha's date being thus earlier
than Gunâdhya's goes back to the first century preceding the Christian
era. The author of our Nâtakas deserving of course a date much earlier
than that of Bhâmaha, must necessarily be placed not later than the
third or second century B. C.
Again, Vishnugupta (alias Chânakya or Kautilya) the great pro-
pounder of politics, a contemporary of Chandragupta is known to have
lived in the fourth century B. C. In his Kautilîya Arthasâstra, where
he tells us how, on the eve of war, ministers and priests should breathe
spirit and enthusiasm into soldiers, he observes,
" 'तुल्यवेतनॊऽस्मि, भवद्भिः सहभोग्यमिदं राज्यं, मयाभिहितः परोऽभिह-
न्तव्यः' इति, वेदेष्वप्यनुश्रूयते समाप्तदक्षिणानां यज्ञानामवभृथेषु 'सा ते
गतिर्या शूराणामि'ति, अपीह श्लोकौ भवतः —
'यान् यज्ञसङ्घैस्तपसा च विप्राः स्वर्गैषिणः पात्रचयैश्च यान्ति ।
क्षणेन तानप्यतियान्ति शूराः प्राणान् सुयुद्धेषु परित्यजन्तः ॥'