Preface

Long ago when I have gone through the Śiśupālavadha I noticed that to compose the poem poet Māgha has used different political words like vijigīṣu, cara, dūta, amātya, kara etc. For a long time I have hankering to do something on this epic. In this thesis I have tried to discuss the different verses of the Śiśupālavadha in the light of Manusaṃhitā and the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya.

The text of the Śiśupālavadha used by me for this dissertation is the edition of Haridas Siddantavagisha. Mainly I have consulted R.P. Kangle, T.G. Shastri editions of the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya. I have consulted Manabendu Bandyopadhaya edition of the Manusaṃhitā. Śiśupālavadha is an epic which is one of the Bṛhattrayī. So it has an important place in Sanskrit epic literature. I was influenced by the book Śiśupālavadha kāvyasamīkṣā of Bihnupada Dutta. So I have followed him sometimes in this work. I have taken English translation from Sitanath Kabyaratna and Pandit Madhab Das Sankhyatirtha edition. For Manusaṃhitā I have taken English translation from Ashokanath Shastri edition.

I take the opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude to prof. Dr. Suchitra Ray, M.A., Ph. D. vyākaraṇa tīrtha, former professor of the Calcutta university, department of Sanskrit, for her valuable guidance and supervision of this work. Her constructive suggestions are availed by me at every step of this work.

I would like to mention specially the name of Prof. Dipankar Mukhopadhaya, Prof. Didhiti Biswas and Prof. Rabindra Nath Bhattacharya for their valuable suggestions during my work.

I am indebted to the employees of the library of the Sanskrit Sahitya parisat for their assistance and helpful attitude.

I express my regards and gratitude to my late parents from whom I inherited my enthusiasm without which I could not finish this work.

Finally I convey my gratitude to the members of my family for their understanding and continuous inspiration.

Shila Chakraborty

Rampur
Palashpai
Paschim Midinipur
January, 2018