Shishupala-vadha (Study)
by Shila Chakraborty | 2018 | 112,267 words
This page relates ‘Knowledge of Tantra in the Shishupalavadha’ of the study on the Shishupala-vadha (in English) in the light of Manusamhita (law and religious duties) and Arthashastra (science of politics and warfare). The Shishupalavadha is an epic poem (Mahakavya) written by Magha in the 7th century AD. It consists of 1800 Sanskrit verses spread over twenty chapters and narrates the details of the king of the Chedis.
Knowledge of Tantra in the Śiśupālavadha
Poet Māgha was well versed about magic. Magic is under tantrasāra.
The science of magic is described in the following verse of Māgha’s epic.
“tuhināṃśumamuṃ suhṛjjanāḥ kalayantuṣṇakaraṃ virodhinaḥ |
kṛtibhiḥ kṛtadṛṣṭivibhramāḥ srajamekebhujagaḥ yathāpare ||” 16.64 ||[1]
Psychological description in physiology is found in eleventh verse of fifteenth canto.
iti cukrudhe bhṛśamanena nanu mahadavāpya vipriyam |
yāti vikṛtimapi saṃvṛtimat kimu yannisarga niravagrahaṃ manaḥ || 15.11 ||[2]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
ibid., p. 694.
[2]:
ibid., p. 601.