Chapter 17.4 - Characters of the Kadambari

Male characters: Moon Tarapida - Sukanasa Candrapida Vaisampayana - - Svetaketu Pundarika Kapinjala Harita Jabali Sudraka King of Ujjayini, father of Candrapida Minister of Tarapida Son of Tarapida Son of Sukanasa Father of Pundarika, an ascetic boy An ascetic boy Friend of Pundarika Son of the sage Jabali to whom he brings the parrot which had lost its father and mother The sage who relates to the parrot its past history The king of Vidisa in whose court CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by $3 Foundation USA a Candala niaiden brings the parrot

Female characters Vilasavati elit Laksmi Mahasveta Kadambari Patralekha Candala maiden - - - The queen, wife of King Tarapida, the ruler of Ujjayini , the mother of Candrapida The goddess of beauty, whose mindborn son was Pundarika A damsel born of a Gandharva and an Apsaras, in love with Pundarika A friend of Mahasveta, Candrapida is in love with A maiden, a present to Candrapida from his mother, a captive daughter of a Kuluta king who captures the parrot and brings it to the court of King Sudraka Non-human characters .......: Laksmi Indrayudha - The goddess of beauty whose mindborn son was Pundarika A magic horse (A re-incarnation of Kapinjala) The Kinnara couple-Chased by Candrapida who loses his way in the Re-incarnations process Laksmi Rohini Candra Pundarika Kapinjala (Wife of Candra, moon) (Moon) Dead body preserved Candala maidan Patralekha CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri CollectDead body preserved New Delhi. Digitized Candrapida Vaisampayanandat Indrayudha (Magical steed)

Sudraka Suka (parrot) Candrapida phy ALA 6001 to squeal Life returns oidging at 1001 Pundarika Life returns to dead body to dead body There are critics who would be averse to accord Bana a high rank on account of his fetish for the ornate kavya style which relegates the plot to the background. There is the classic onslaught of Weber where Bana's prose is compared to a thick jungle in which progress is made impossible by the thick undergrowth in which lie wild beasts in the shape of recondite words. There is, we concede, some truth in this charge. But one thing that one is apt to forget is that Bana did not compose his works for the simplicity-minded readers of today. The time in which he was living is partly to account for the floridity, and tortuousness that are the characteristic marks of his prose. Any poet who wanted to win fame in an age when Bana lived had to write in the pedantic style to meet the tastes of the readers imbued with sastric learning. Bana's high flown style reflects not only him but also his age when artificiality and ornateness had gripped people's mind. Even though fettered by artificiality and mannerism Bana has been able to produce a work which has, in the words of his son, won him wide fame: aryam yam arcati grhe grha eva lokah, him, the noble one, people worship in every home. subtlety and