that he was the patron of arts and sciences is nowhere clearly stated or implied. Jain records mention Siddhasena Súri, a learned Jain priest, as the spiritual adviser of this Vikramaditya. Since the above remarks were written we have received a complete copy of the Katha Sarita Ságara, and going carefully over the stories of Vikramaditya, we were surprised to find in the 18th section, the statement that they had been related by the sage Kanva to the king Naraváhanadatta of Kaus'ámbí in Vatsa. This Vikramaditya, the hero of many interesting fables, appears after all, to have flourished previously to the 5th century before Christ, i.e. before Naraváhanadatta, who, according to many Jain authorities, the Kathá-sarita-ságara and the Matsya Purána, was the grandson of Sátánika,* the contemporary of Mahávíra and S'akya Sinha. One of the ancient Nassick caveinscriptions has a Vikramáditya, celebrated for his glorious deeds in the company of Nabhága, Nahusha, Janmejaya, Yayáti, and Balaráma.† Thus it is clear that popular ignorance has assigned to Vikramáditya of the Samvat Era, glories to which he is not entitled. The whole subject is so complicated yet interesting, that we shall take an early opportunity of clearing up the history of the "Vicramádityas.” In the Vikrama Charitra, composed by S'ri Deva, of which the MS. in our possession was copied in Samvat 1492 (i. e. a. D. 1435), it is stated that 470 years after the nirvána (death) of Vardhamána, the last of the Jain Tirthankaras, Vikramaditya flourished in Vis❜álá (Oujein) in Avanti Des'a. He released his subjects from debt and established his own era. There is no allusion to Kálidása. Except the Jyotirvidábharaṇa, a Sanskrit treatise on astrology, ascribed in the concluding stanzas to Kálidása, we have not met with any work, in the Sanskrit or Mágadhí language, noticing the contemporaneous existence of the "nine gems" at the court of Vikramaditya of the Samvat Era. There are several works which mention a Vikramaditya or Bhojá in connection with the patronage of letters and arts, and particularly of Kálidása; but the omission of any distinctive appellation leads to the inference that the patron of Kálidása and other learned men was a later monarch of that name, who was also styled Bhoja. The conclusion to the Jyotirvidábharaṇa, which contains the verse respecting the "nine gems" so frequently quoted as a "memorial verse," without any one having been able to trace it to its source, is given entire below, as the author enters into chronological details regarding himself not met with in any of the well-known works of the great Kálidása. *Wilson's Vishnu Purána, p. 462. + Journal of the Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society, vol. v. p. 43. Translation of Chapter 22, containing twenty-one Verses. 1. I now proceed to give in order the subjects already treated of, and to describe the joy-producing monarch, Vikrama. [The 2nd to the 6th verse contains the names of the subjects, and the 6th verse states that the total number of verses in the book are 1,424, and that the book is named "Jyotirvidábharana Kávya."] 7. By me has this work been produced in the reign of Vikrama over Málava in Bhárata Varsha, which is rendered delightful by the study of the S'ritis and Smritis, and which contains 180 countries. 8. S'anku, Vararuchi, Mani, Ans'udatta, Jishnu, Trilochana, Hari, Ghatakharpara, also Amara Sinha and other poets, adorned his assembly. 9. Satya, Varáha Mihira, S'rita Sena, S'ri Bádarayani, Manittha, and Kumára Sinha, were the astronomers, and myself and other professors of astronomy also. 10. Dhanwantari, Ks'apaņaka, Amarasinha, S'anku, Vetálabhatta, Ghatakharpara, Kálidása, the renowned Varáha Mihira and Vararuchi, are the nine gems of Vikrama. 11. Vikrama flourished, and at his court attended 800 Mándalika (minor) Rajas; and at the great assembly there were 16 eloquent pundits, 10 astronomers, 6 physicians, and 16 reciters of the Vedas. 12. His army occupied 18 yojanas of ground; his forces consisted of 3 crores of infantry, 10 crores of cavalry, 24,300 elephants, and 400,000 boats. No monarch could be compared to him. 13. He celebrated his victory over the world by the destruction of ninety-five S'aka chiefs, and established his era in the Kaliyuga; and by daily giving in alms, pearls, gold, jewels, cows, horses and elephants, he brightened the face of dharma. 14. He destroyed the proud king of Dravida, also the king of Láța, defeated the king of Gauda, and conquered him of Gurjardes'a, removed the darkness of Dhárá, delighted the king of Kámboja, and conducted himself with success. 15. His prowess and qualities were like those of Indra, Ambhodhí, Amaradru, Smara, and Meru. He was the delight of his subjects, and humbled his enemies by conquering and restoring their forts to them. 16. He protects the capital Ujjayiní, the great city which gives beatitude to its inhabitants, and which is celebrated for the presence of Mahákála. 17. In a great battle he conquered the king of the Sa'kas in Ruma, paraded his royal prisoner in Ujjayiní, and afterwards set him free. Such was his irresistible prowess. 18. Whilst Vikrama thus reigned in Avantí, the people enjoyed prosperity, happiness, and wealth, and the injunctions of the Vedas were everywhere observed. 19. S'anku and many other pundits and poets, and Varáha Mihira and other astronomers, flourished at his court. They respect the genius of me, who am a friend of the king. 20. Having first composed three Kávyas, i. e. the Raghuvansá and others, I composed several treatises on Vedic subjects (S'riti Karmaváda); then from Kálidása proceeded the astrological treatise called Jyotirvidábharaṇa. 21. 3068 years of Kali having passed, in the month of Vys'ákha I commenced composing the work, and completed it in the month of Kártika. Having zealously examined many astronomical works, I have composed this treatise for the edification of astronomers."* In verse 46 of the 20th chapter he says: "The people of Kamboja, Gauda, Andhraka, Málava, Surájya, and Gurjara, sing even to the present day the glory of Vikrama, shining with the liberality of gifts of gold." The existence of so distinct a statement in an astrological work of some pretensions to antiquity would have set the question of Kálidása's epoch at rest, but from a careful examination of its style, and from other internal evidence, it does not appear to be the production of the great Kálidása. In furnishing a rule for finding out the Ayanáns'a (the arc between the vernal equinoctial point and the beginning of the fixed Zodiac or first point of Aries) we are told in the work that from the number of years after Saka (i.e. the era of Sáliváhana, A.D. 78), 445 years should be subtracted, and the remainder divided by 60. This alone proves that. the treatise was written at least seven centuries after the Vikrama Samvat, and there is abundant evidence to prove that the real author was of the Jain persuasion. Also as Jishnu, the father of Brahmagupta,† For the original Sanskrit text, see Appendix. + Brahmagupta gives the following date for the composition of his Siddhanta, of which we possess an excellent manuscript copy made in Samvat 1678. श्रीचापवंशतिलके श्रीव्याघ्रमुखेनृपेश कनृपालात् || पंचाशत्संयुक्तै र्वर्षशतैः पंचभिरतीतैः ॥ १ ॥ ब्राम्हः स्फुटसिद्धांतः सज्जनगणितज्ञगोल विस्मीत्यै ।। त्रिंशद्दर्षेणकृतो जिष्णु सुतब्रम्हगुप्तेन || २ || अध्याय २४ -आर्या ७-८ Translation." In the reign of Shrí Vyâghramukha, of the S'rí Chápa dynasty, five hundred and fifty years after Saka king (i.e. S'áliváhana, or A.D. 628) having is stated to have graced the court of Vikramaditya in addition to the "nine gems," it is clear that the author of the Jyotirvidábharaṇa is sufficiently modern to have confounded Harsha Vikramaditya of Ujjayiní, in the 6th century, with the founder of the Samvat Era. The "memorial verse" so often quoted by learned men in proof of the existence of the "nine gems," at the court of Vikrama, thus loses completely its value as an authority. Besides, it is very doubtful whether there was any poet with the appellation of Ghatakharpara, the Kávya bearing that title in many manuscripts being attributed to Kálidása. Another writer, who assumes the title of Kálidása, is the author of S'atruparábhava Grantha, an astrological work treating of favourable opportunities for action, by determining the predominance of "svara” or breath, through the right or left nostril. The first and last verses are as follows: नत्वा सुरासुरशिरोमणिरत्नरश्मि चित्रीकृतांघ्रियुगलं हरिमादिदेवं ॥ श्रीकालिदासगणकः स्वरशास्त्रसारं वक्ष्याम्यहं प्रबल शत्रुपराभवाख्यं ॥ १॥ आसीत् कश्यपवंशजोर्कतनयातीराधिवासीद्विजः श्रौतस्मार्तविचार सारचतुरः श्रीभानुभट्टस्सुधीः ॥ तत्पुत्रोहरिभक्तिनिर्मल तनुर्ज्योतिर्विदा मग्रणीः शास्त्रंशत्रुपराभवाख्यमकरोत् श्रीकालिदासः कविः ॥ २ ॥ Translation.-"I, Kálidása Gaņaka, after making obeisance to Hari, the Adi Deva, whose joint feet are resplendent with the rays of the jewels in the crowns of the Gods and Demons, proceed to give the substance of Svara S'astra, called S'atruparábhava Grantha. "Deeply versed in the knowledge of the S'ritis and Smritis, and born in the race of Kas'yapa, there lived on the banks of the Arkatanayá (Jumna), the talented Bhanubhatta bráhmaņa. His son, whose body has been purified by devotion to Hari, is the poet Kálidása, the first among astrologers. He composed the S'astra, called S'atruparà bhava." In the following (30th) verse, he says:-"To the current Saka year add 12 and divide the sum by 60, the remainder is the year of the human cycle and the eleventh from it is the order of the Barhaspatya cycle," (i. e. the cycle of Jupiter). शकेसाकैहृतखांगैः शेषेब्दः प्रभवादिकः मनुष्यमानतः स्तस्माज्जैवः स्यादाशसंमितः ॥ १॥ passed, Brahmagupta, the son of Jishnu, at the age of thirty, composed the Brahmagupta Siddhanta for the edification of mathematicians and astronomers." Chap. 24. Aryá 7-8. He invokes Ganpati and then Vishnu. It is clear that he lived long after S'alivàhana; and the style shows that he is not the author of the S'akuntala and Raghuvans'a. Colonel Wilford, in an elaborate essay on Vikramáditya and S'áliyahana, gives a large collection of ill-digested facts, with his usual proportion of the wildest speculations on them; but it is not necessary to point out here all the mistakes that are patent to us, so that we shall deal only with those that relate immediately to the subject under consideration. Thus he writes:-"In the Satrunjaya Mahátmya we read that after 466 years of the era are elapsed, then would appear the great and famous Vikramaditya; and then, 477 years after him, Sailaditya or Bhoja would reign. "In the Ayeen Akbari, the various dates from the era of Vikramaditya are to be reckoned from the accession to the throne, in the middle ages of the Christian Era."* The S'atrunjaya Mahatmya is a Jain work, an abstract of which in the original Sanskrit, with a German translation, has been published by Weber (Leipzig, 1858). It professes to be the composition of Dhanes' wara Súri, at the request of a S'iláditya of Valabhí, glorifying the S'atrunjaya mountain, which is the same as the hill of Palitána in Kattiawar. The original passage is as follows: अस्मन्निर्वाणतोवर्षैस्त्रिभिः सार्द्धेषु मासकैः ॥ धर्मविप्लावकः शक्रः पंचमारो भविष्यति ॥ १ ॥ ततः शतैश्चतुर्भिः षट्षष्टिभिर्वत्सरैर्दिनैः || पंचचत्वारिंशतापि विक्रमार्कौमहीमिमां || २ || सिद्धसेनोपदेशेनानृणीकृत्यजिनोक्तवत् ॥ अस्मत्संवत्सरंलुप्त्वा स्वीयमाविष्करिष्यति || ३ || इति शत्रुंजयमाहात्म्ये १४ सर्गे Vira, i. e. Mahávíra or Vardhamána, the last of the Jain Tirthankaras says: Trans.-" Three years and five months and a half after my nirváņa (death) there will be produced an Indra, a destroyer of religion. He will be called a fifth Mára (killer). Four hundred and sixty-six years and forty-five days after him, Vikramárka Raja, honouring the advice of Siddhasena Sùri as the words of Jina, will free the earth from debt, and, setting aside the current era, will establish his own." It is clear then from this text, which we have collated with three old MSS. in our possession, that the Samvat Era replaced that of Var * Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. p. 142. The same opinions are repeated at p. 156. + Ueber das Satrunjaya Máhátmyam von Albrecht Weber, Leipzig, 1858. p. 92. Weber's text has which would make a difference of three months. The text we have quoted is from two admirable manuscripts in our possession. |