Chapter 17.1 - Sanskrit Prose literature: Dandin

The ancient Indians had a special fascination for verse. Even the dictionaries were compiled in verses as also manuals on civil and religious law and various other branches of literature. But whenever the Indians opted for prose, they produced marvellous works of artistic workmanship. Though lovers of poetry, Indians were not averse to prose and there came a time in the chequered history of the Indian writing when prose came to occupy the pride of place. There arose a galaxy of prose writers beginning with Dandin, Subandhu and Bana. Though we have a limited number of prose romances, they are sufficient to reveal the great genius of our prose writers whose works stand as a monument to all the learning and wisdom that India had imbibed through centuries of intense devotion and perseverance. Dandin The first of the great prose writers is Dandin, the author of the Dasakumaracarita , a story of the adventures of the ten princes who go out on an expedition, are separated from each other but after years are re-united and relate the story of their adventures at the bidding of Rajavahana, the hero. The stories are highly sensational and exciting. Dandin had utilised the time-honoured CC- 0.motifsy of folk-lore like transformation, re-birth, magic and a New Delhi. Digitized

trickery to impart flavour to his stories. The first part of the book called the Purvapithika and the concluding one called the Uttarapithika are admittedly not the work of Dandin. They are supposed to be later additions. The details in them do not agree with themselves, not to talk of the main body of the work which begins with the account of Rajavahana and ends with that of Visruta. As about Dandin, we do not have much information. He may be identical with the author of the Kavyadarsa but there is nothing to prove that, instead there are positive arguments adduced by some scholars against this. The name Dandin itself is applicable to more than one person bearing the appellation of a religious mendicant of a certain order. That the Dasakumaracarita belongs to the juvenalia of Dandin and Kavyadarsa, to a more mature period is also not acceptable as there is no immaturity in either work. It is a poor defence to say that a man does not practice what he says, in justification of the instances where Dandin, the prose-poet, offends against Dandin, the rhetorician. From the geographical knowledge and style, we can say that Dandin is earlier than Harsavardhana, Bana, and Subandhu. Dandin's style is most pleasing and compares favourably with the style of his great compeers, Subandhu and Bana. Kieth sums up Dandin's style in the following words: "where narrative is mere skeleton and description the essence." The main interest of the romance lies in the substance with its vivid and pictureque account of low life, and adventures of magicians and fraudulent holy men, of hetairai, of Buddhist nuns who act as go-between. It is this disregard of the moral standards that has brought the mighty censure of the purists on him. Dandin is rightly famous for his padalalitya, the sweetness of words, a beautiful illustration of which is found in the following lines. "kumara marabhirama ramadyapaurusa rusa bhasmikrtarayo rayopahasitasamirana ranabhiyanena CC- Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA yanena...

Dandin shows distinct judgement and varies tones where he has to describe a tragedy. As a whole, the work is replete with humour emanating from the digs at the princes , Brahmanas and others who matter in society.