Imatges de pàgina
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* वा सुउमारदरोबि तबोवणगमणपरिस्समस्त अत्ता पदं उबेणीदो ।

b

शकुन्तला ॥ आत्मगतम् ॥

.. हिअअ । मा उत्तम्म। एसा तुए चिन्दिदं अणसूत्र मन्तेदिं ।

राजा ॥ आत्मगतम् ॥

कथमिदानीमात्मानं निवेदयामि । कथं वात्मापहारं करोमिं । भवतु । एवं तावदेनां वक्ष्ये ।

॥ प्रकाशम् ॥

भवंति ।

यः पौरवेण राज्ञा धर्माधिकारे नियुक्तः सोऽहमविघ्नक्रियोपलम्भाय धर्मारण्यमिदमायातः ।

* वा सुकुमारतरोऽपि तपोवनगमन परिश्रमस्यात्मा पदमुपनीतः । मा उत्ताम्य । एषा त्वया चिन्तितमनसूया मन्त्रयते ।

b

हृदय ।

1 'Or on what account has your person, so very delicate [unaccustomed to hardships] as it ( evidently ) is, been brought to the point of (undergoing) the fatigue of visiting a grove of penance?'

± ‘O (my) heart ! be not uneasy, this Anasūyā is giving utterance to all thy thoughts,' i. e. is making inquiry about all those points about which thou art anxious (such as, who this stranger is, whence he has come, &c.)

3 ‘ Or how shall I make concealment of myself?' i.e. how shall I hide my real character ? how shall I dissemble ? Apa hāra = vañcana, 'deception,' K., or = ni-hnava or sangopana, ' concealment,' 'dissimulation.' This is a very unusual sense of the word, but all the Deva-n. MSS. agree in reading apahāra. The Beng. have parihāra, which is also explained by sangopana. The oldest Beng. MS. ( India Office, 1060) omits the words from katham vā to karomi.

4 ‘O lady!' voc. of bhavati. A Brāhman is to be accosted with the respectful pronoun bhavat, and to any woman not related by blood, the address bhavati, 'Madam,' or subhage bhagini, amiable sister,' is to be used (Manu ii. 128, 129 ).

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5 I, that very person appointed by his majesty, the descendant of Puru, for the supervision of religion, have arrived at this sacred grove, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the (religious) rites are free from obstruction.' The sacrifices of holy men were liable to be disturbed by evil

a

अनसूया ।

# सणांहा दाणिं धम्मचारिणो ।

॥ शकुन्तला शृङ्गारलज्जां निरूपयति ॥

सख्यौ ॥ उभयोराकारं विदित्वा जनान्तिकम् ॥

हला सउन्दले । जइ एत्थ अज्ज तादो सखिहिदो भवे ।

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spirits called Rakshasas-the determined enemies of piety. No great religious ceremony was ever carried on without these demons attempting to impede its celebration; and the most renowned saints were obliged on such occasions to acknowledge their dependence on the strong arm of the military class for protection. The idea that holy men, who had attained the utmost spiritual power, were unable to cope with the spirits of evil, and the superiority of physical force in this respect is remarkable. (See Rāmāy. bk. i. chaps. 20, 21, 32 ; and end of Act III. of this play.) In point of fact the Rakshasas were poetical representations of the wild aborigines of the woods.

1 Sa-nāthāh, “ possessed of a guardian ;' see p. 26, n. 3.

2 — Understanding the gestures of both,' i. e. of Sakuntalā and Dushyanta. ākāra=deshtā or ingita, 'a gesture,' 'sign, ' or rather the state of mind as evidenced by gestures and outward appearances, such as change of colour, &c.

3 ‘What would then happen ? ' i. e. if he were near at hand, what would he do? Schol.

'He would make this distinguished guest happy [possessed of the object of his desire] with all the substance of his life,' i. e. he would do worthy honour to his guest by offering him the best of his substance and property. Sarva-sva, see p. 33, n. I. S. explains sarva-svam by phalamūlādikam, ‘ fruits, roots, and other necessaries of life' Fruits and roots

G

Vrus

a

शकुन्तला ।

" तुम्हे अबेध । किम्पि हिए करिअ मन्ते । ण वो वअणं

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भगवान्काश्यपः शाश्वते ब्रह्मणि वर्तते । इयं च वः सखी तदात्मजेति कथमेतत् ।

a युवामपेतम् । किमपि हृदये कृत्वा मन्त्रयेथे । न वां वचनं श्रोष्यामि । b आर्य। अनुग्रह इवेयमभ्यर्थना ।

were the chief food of anchorites, and constituted their whole substance. With an offering of these they were commanded to honour every one who came to their hermitage (Rāmāy. i. 52, 16; 61, 4; Manu vi. 7). The allusion, however, evidently is to Sakuntala, who might be regarded as the holy father's most valuable possession.

1 ‘Get off with you! having formed some ( idea ) in your heart, you are speaking.' Hridaye or manasi kri is not an unusual idiom for 'to turn or cogitate in the mind' (see Rāmāy. ii. 64, 8 ). Apetam is the 2nd du. impv. of i, 'to go,' with apa.

2 Sakhi-gatam, 'relating to your friend.' (Śakuntalā-vishayakam, Schol.) This use of gata is noticeable, see note on ātma-gatam, p. 38, n. 1. Only one Deva-n. MS. reads bhavatyau; but this is supported by the oldest Bengālī, which also adds kimapi .

3 — His reverence Kāśyapa [see p. 22, n. 1] lives in the constant practice-of-devotion [or in perpetual celibacy].' Brahman is properly the Supreme Spirit from which all created things are supposed to emanate and into which they are absorbed. It may also mean the Veda, or holy knowledge. S. explains brahman by tapas, i. e. bodily mortification_and penance; K. by brahma-carya, ' the practice of continence.'

a

अनसूया ।

'सुणादु अज्जो । अत्थि कोबि कोसिओत्ति गोत्तणाम हेओ । महप्पहावो राएंसी ।

a

शृणोत्वार्यः । अस्ति कोऽपि कौशिक इति गोत्रनामधेयो महाप्रभावो राजर्षिः ।

1 There is a certain Rajarshi [see p. 39, n. 3] of great majesty, whose family name is Kausika,' i. e. the celebrated Viśvamitra (descendant of Kusa or Kuśika), whose story is told in Rāmāy. bk. i. chaps. 35 and 51–65. He is there described as the son of Gadhi (a prince of the Lunar dynasty, king of Gadhi-pur, or the ancient Kanouj), who is the son of Kusa-nātha, who is the son of Kusa or Kusika. According to Vishnu-p. the following is the pedigree of Visvamitra. One of the sons of Pururavas, a prince of the Lunar dynasty (see Vikramorvaśī), was Amāvasu. Thence in direct succession came Bhima, Kanćana, Jahnu, Sumantu, Ajaka, Valākāśva, and Kuśa. The latter had two sons, Kuśāmba and Kuśa-nātha; but Gādhi was son of Kuśāmba, and was said to be an incarnation of Indra (hence sometimes called Kausika); for Kuśāmba had engaged in great penance, to obtain a son who should be equal to Indra; and the latter becoming alarmed, took upon himself the character of Kusamba's son. Gādhi had a daughter, Satyavati, who married a Brāhman named Ṛićīka, son of Bhṛigu. This Ṛićīka—with the view of securing to himself a son who should be an illustrious Brahman, and to his father-in-law a son of great prowess-made two messes of food, one for his own wife, and the other for the wife of Gadhi; infusing into one the qualities suited to a Brāhman, and into the other the properties of power and heroism. The two wives exchanged messes, and so it happened that the wife of Gadhi had a son, Viśvāmitra, who, though a Kshatriya, was born with the inclinations of a Brahman; and the wife of Ṛićīka had a son, the sage Jamad-agni, who was the father of the warrior-priest Paraśurāma, she having by her entreaties induced her husband to transfer the effects of the exchange of food from her son to her grandson. There is something like anachronism in the history of Viśvāmitra. Satyavatī, his sister, was the grandmother of Paraśu-rāma, and it was not till the close of the latter's career that Rama-ćandra appeared on the field and became the pupil of Viśvāmitra. At any rate the Rishi must have been very old. Indeed, in the Rāmāyaṇa he is stated to have mortified himself for two thousand years before he attained the rank of a Rishi; for many years more before his cohabitation with Menakā, which led to the birth of Sakuntalā;

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अस्ति । श्रूयते ।

a

राजा ।

अनसूया ।

* तं णो पिअसहीए पहवं अवगच्छ । उज्झिआए सरीरसंवदृणादीहिं तादकस्सबो से पिदा ।

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'सुणादु अज्जो । गोदमीतीरे पुरा किल तस्स राएसिणो उग्गे तबसि वट्टमाणस्स किम्पि जादसङ्केहिं देवेहिं मेणआ णाम अच्छरा पेसिदा णिमविग्धकारिणी ।

* तं नौ प्रियसख्याः प्रभवमवगच्छ । उज्झितायाः शरीरसंवर्धनादिभिस्तात काश्यपोsस्याः पिता । b शृणोत्वार्यः । गौतमीतीरे पुरा किल तस्य राजर्षेरुग्रे तपसि वर्तमानस्य किमपि जातशङ्खैर्देवैर्मेनका नामाप्सराः प्रेषिता नियमविघ्नकारिणी ।

and for many thousand years more before he became a Brahman. It was not till after this period that he became the preceptor of Rāmaéandra. No chronological inconsistency is too monstrous for Hindu mythology.

1 ‘Know him (to be ) the father of our dear friend ; but father Kaņva is the (reputed) father of her, through the fostering of her body, &c., when deserted.' Prabhava=janma - hetu, ' the operative cause of being,' i.e. a father.

2 The story of Viśvāmitra, as told in the Rāmāyaṇa, is briefly this. On his accession to the throne in the room of his father Gadhi, in the course of a tour through his dominions, he visited the hermitage of the sage Vasishtha (one of the ten Brahmadikas or Prajapatis, sons of Brahmā). There the cow of plenty, which granted its owner all desires, and was the property of Vasishtha, excited the king's cupidity. He offered the Muni untold treasures in exchange for the cow, but being refused, prepared to take it by force. A long war ensued between the King and the Muni (symbolical of the struggles between the Kshatriya and Brāh

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