स्वप्नवासवदत्तम् (महाकवि भास - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी अनुवाद)

xxviii INTRODUCTION.
' नवं शरावं सलिलस्य पूर्णं सुसंस्कृतं दर्भकृतोत्तरीयम् ।
तत् तस्य मा भून्नरकं च गच्छेद् यो भर्तृपिण्डस्य कृते न युध्येत् ॥'
इति मन्त्रिपुरोहिताभ्यामुत्साहयेद् योधान् ”
(Kautilya's Arthasâstra, Adhikarana 10. Adhyâya 3.)
The substance of the passage is : that to the brave is reserved a happy
end; those who lose their life in battle attain that which is won by long
penance and sacrifices. The victorious are ever honoured on earth but
he who shrinks from fighting for the royal master by whom he is fed is
a sinner destined for hell. The sloka “नवं शरावं” which is quoted above
is found in the fourth Act of Pratijnâyaugandharâyana addressed to
soldiers to stimulate them to fight. Now we have to see whether this
sloka is borrowed from the nâtaka by the author of Arthasâstra or the
other way. When a minister out of policy addresses soldiers on the
nobility of death in battle and the sinfulness of shrinking from fighting
in the cause of one's master, his works are not likely to be credited, unless
backed by authority. Hence, the first quotation, “सा ते गतिर्या शूराणां”
from the sacred sruti. This is followed by two slokas which read as
cited from a source which, in importance is of equal force with the
smritis. Hence the sloka “नवं शरावं”— could not be the words of the
author of the Arthasâstra. Further, the fact that it immediately follows
another quotation also proves it to be a quotation. For, the previous
sloka “यान् यज्ञसङ्घैः” is obviously a quotation as the word to which both
यान् and तान् refer is not in the sloka, but has to be gathered as
shown by the construction, from the passage preceding it in the work
from which it is quoted. Again, Kautilya introduces the two slokas
with “अपीह श्लोकौ भवतः” (meaning “here are the two slokas on the sub-
ject”) which he never does in cases of his own slokas. Such a state-
ment has significance only as referring to a quotation. Further, in
Kâvyas, the authors having an easy and graceful command over words
express their ideas, scientific or popular, naturally in their own words.
But if ever they quote from others' works, they do so with an un-
mistakable indication. As there is no such indication in Pratijnâ-