स्वप्नवासवदत्तम् (महाकवि भास - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी अनुवाद)

. INTRODUCTION. XLV
It is clear from the above passage that the place where the fictitious
black elephant was posted, was covered with such a dense forest of sâla trees
that it was hardly possible to distinguish an elephant. While even the exis-
tence of the elephant was left to be inferred only through the tusks, it
were hardly likely to conceive, even by day, that it might possibly be a
fictitious one. It is, however, clear from Pratijñânâtika that Vatsa-
râja's elephant-hunt must have taken place about mid-day. From
this, Bhâmaha concludes that, however dense the trees might be, even
there, darkness cannot co-exist with mid-day light, that it is thus im-
possible that an elephant could not be distinguished owing to the density
of sâla trees; and that such a statement is a mere exaggeration.
On the other hand, it seems to us that actual experience shows that there
could be total darkness on account of the density of sâla trees, in spite
of broad day-light. If, on the other hand, as narrated in Kathâsarit-
sâgara which is a close copy of Brihatkathâ, evening twilight had
begun to set in, Vatsarâja's erroneous impression becomes more probable;
but this ingenious statement does nowhere appear in Pratijñânâtika,
and it is quite possible that the author of Brihatkathâ might have con-
ceived this statement for the sake of repelling Bhâmaha's criticisms and
Somadevabhatta having come across it in Brihatkathâ would have in-
serted it in his own work, Kathâsaritsâgara†. Everything has thus
been rendered clear.
That there was a very wide circulation of Bhâsa's plays in Kâli-
[Margin: Want of circulation.] dâsa's time is evident from his own statement “प्रथित-
यशसां भाससौमिल्लकविपुत्रादीनाम्” . On the other hand,
its circulation had become extremely rare during the time of Sûdraka.
Thus is to be accounted for the readiness displayed by Sûdraka
in Mrichchhakatika to collect together the various sentences to
be found in Chârudatta; hence also the wide circulation of Mrich-
chhakatika which is merely an adaptation of another's words. These
* II. Lambaka, IV. Taranga, XVIII. Sloka.
“गान्धर्वदत्तचित्तत्वात् सन्ध्याध्वान्तवशाच्च सः ।
न तं वनगतं राजा मायागजमलक्षयत् ॥”