वासवदत्ता (महाकवि सुबन्धु - श्लेष-प्रधान शास्त्रीय गद्यकाव्य सान्वय सटीक)

6 VĀSAVADATTĀ
that little stress can be laid upon it, especially in view of the
legendary character of the work as a whole. Finally, mention
should also be made, for the sake of completeness, of an apparent
allusion to the Vāsavadattā in Daṇḍin's Daśakumāracarita (ed.
Godabole and Parab, p. 110, lines 11–12, Bombay, 1898):
anurūpabhartṛgāminīnāṁ ca vāsavadattādīnāṁ varṇanēna grā-
hayā 'nuśayam, ‘and make her repent by a description of
Vāsavadattā and others who gained suitable husbands.’ This
clearly refers, however, to the well-known story of Vāsavadattā
and Udayana (see above, p. 2); and it is equally impossible
that the vāsavadattām adhikṛtya kṛtō granthaḥ mentioned in
the Vārttika (probably third century B.C.) on Pāṇini, 4. 3. 87,
should be connected in any way with Subandhu’s romance.
It should also be noted that Narasiṁha Vaidya, one of the
glossators of the Vāsavadattā, says: kavir ayam vikramāditya-
sabhyaḥ. tasmin rājñi lōkāntaram prāptē ētan nibandham kṛtavān,
‘this poet [Subandhu] was a retainer of Vikramāditya. When
this king attained the other world, he [Subandhu] composed this
work’ (Hall, Introd., p. 6, note). Hall’s manuscript D, more-
over, which belongs to what I may tentatively call the ‘South
Indian recension’ of the Vāsavadattā (see below, p. 38), terms
Subandhu ‘the son of Vararuci’s sister’ (śrīvararucibhāginēya),
Vararuci himself being, as is well known, one of the ‘nine gems’
of Vikramāditya’s court, flourishing at least later than the fifth
century (Bloch, Vararuci und Hemacandra, p. 13, Gütersloh,
1893; cf. Macdonell, History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 324,
London, 1900). Hall denies that Subandhu was Vararuci’s
nephew (Introd., pp. 6–7), but it is possible that the tradition
contains a larger element of truth than is often supposed (cf.
Wilson, Works, 5. 177, London, 1865). It is, at all events,
echoed by the Bhōjaprabandha,—whatever be the value assigned
to such testimony—which associates Subandhu and Vararuci in
the passage already referred to.
Inscriptions of India mention Subandhu only once to my
knowledge. This single instance is a Canarese record of 1168
A.D., found at Balagāmi (Rice, Mysore Inscriptions, p. 111,