Vāsavadattā
This work has a very simple story. The storyline is as follows- Once, there was a great King and a prince. Kandarpaketu was the name of the prince. Kandarpaketu was a very happy prince and one day, in his dream he saw a beautiful princess. After seeing her in the dream he lost all his interest in the worldly affairs. He refrained from taking part in the administration of the Kingdom, in his past times, in poetry, in arts etc. His mind was filled with the thoughts of this beautiful princess he saw in the dream. Everybody around him were worried and so was his close friend Makaranda. Makaranda meets him and tries to convince him that dreams are not true and all the visions seen in the dreams cannot happen and persuades him to get married to any other beautiful princess. However, Kandarpaketu refused to give up and decided to leave the Kingdom and go in search of the beautiful Princess that he saw in the dream. Makaranda agreed to help him in his search. The vision of the princess was well entrenched in his mind and he was sure about recognizing her wherever he saw her. They went to many kingdoms and one day during their search they slept in a forest under a tree. And in the tree, there lived two parrots, a male and a female parrot that could speak human language. They heard the male parrot telling the female parrot about a city called Kusumapura that was ruled by a King called Śṛṅgāraśekara. Śṛṅgāraśekara had arranged a Svayamvara for his daughter called Vāsavadattā and though many suitors came the princess did not choose anyone from them as her groom. When the King asked for a reason for not choosing anyone Vāsavadattā informed him about a dream that she had and the prince that she saw in her dream. She also informed her father that she will not marry anyone other than the prince that she saw in her dream. And she also revealed that she was aware of the identity of the prince that she saw in her dream. Tamālikā, the parrot that was reciting this story was a friend of that princess and the princess wrote a letter and gave it to Tamālikā and requested the parrot to go in search of the prince that she saw in her dream. And so, Tamālikā and her friend went across to many Kingdoms in search of the prince. On hearing this story from under the tree Kandarpaketu immediately approached the parrot and revealed that he was also in search of the princess that he saw in his dream. Tamālikā was extremely happy on hearing this and understood that it was the play of gods that both of them had similar dreams and thereafter took Kandarpaketu to the city of Kusumapura. Kandarpaketu met Vāsavadattā in Kusumapura and both of them decided to elope and travel to Kandarpaketu’s capital to get married. On the way in a forest, they slept under a tree. Next day morning the prince woke up and was shocked when he did not see Vāsavadattā beside him. He searched all over but was unable to find her there. Worried and disappointed he decided to continue his search of Vāsavadattā in the adjoining Kingdoms. One day during his long search Kandarpaketu saw a statue in the form of a woman. When he placed his hand on the statue, it immediately became Vāsavadattā, a living form of Vāsavadattā. And then Vāsavadattā started telling him the story of how she became a statue. On the day when both of them were sleeping under the tree, Vāsavadattā felt very hungry and went in search of some fruits and roots to eat. As she wandered, she saw two armies and the heads of both the armies were attracted to her and wanted her and therefore a fight ensued between both the armies. There was bloodshed and out of fear Vāsavadattā rushed into the nearest hermitage of a Ṛṣi. The Ṛṣi on seeing her entering the hermitage without his permission became angry and laid upon her the curse of petrification that could turn her into a stone. Vāsavadattā fell at his feet and explained the circumstances of her entry and pleaded that it was not her intention to disturb him and asked for his mercy. The ṛṣi became compassionate and out of mercy told her that she will regain her form when her lover touches her stone form. And thus, Vāsavadattā explained how she became a stone and thanked her stars for regaining her original form. They returned to the Kingdom, got married and lived happily ever after.
Vāsavadattā is considered to be one of the extraordinary works of Sanskrit possibly because of the density of its language. In this work nearly every word is a pun, even a double or triple pun at times. The metaphors used here are extensive with varied vocabulary. The long run-on descriptions is another hall mark of Vāsavadattā.
Vāsavadattā is exceptional and unusual as it is a language- focused work of prose. In those days prose works in Sanskrit were rare even though most commentaries called Vyākaraṇa were written only in prose. And hence it has been construed by many Sanskrit scholars that Vāsavadattā was the first poetic work in prose in Sanskrit. The style of this work is completely different and is also considered artificial by many. The poet has given much attention to the delineation of “Rasa” that is of emotions, sentiments etc. The main aim of this work was to exhibit the Poet’s innate talent in śleṣa, simply known as play of words, a pun. Subandhu considered this talent of his exremely extra-ordinary and in the below sentence, he expresses his pride and claims that in every letter, every syllable there is a pun which by itself is an extra- ordinary claim from any poet. pratyakṣaraśleṣamayaprapañcavinyāsavaidadhyanidhiṃ prabandhaṃ sarasvatīdattavaraprasādāt cakre suband- huḥ sujanaikabandhuḥ |
The many forms of literary adornment embellished in this narrative is considered to be the greatest contribution of this work. First and the foremost is the “Śleṣa” or the “paronomasia” with a good reason. The next is “virodha” or “antithesis” where the superficial meaning is self-contradictory while the paronomasiac reading renders a meaningful conclusion.
It is indeed a very ordinary story and does not have many interesting incidents. However, the poet’s prowess in using the same words with different meanings called pratyakṣaraśleṣav can be seen throughout the work. On account of that, in few instances the propriety is also broken. In some situations, the poet’s talent for punning with double or even triple meanings has led to the absence of characterization or making natural descriptions etc. We have examples like - mahiṣīsaṃbhavo’pi vṛṣotpādī | The word mahiṣī, has two meanings in Sanskrit. One is paṭṭābhiṣiktā mahiṣī. Even though a king may have a number of wives, the first one who is qualified, who is fit to sit with him on the throne for paṭṭābhiṣeka is called mahiṣī, paṭṭamahiṣī etc. The other wives are just wives. And the word Vṛṣa also has two meanings. One is Dharma. And the other meaning is bullock. Vṛṣa, vṛṣabhaḥ like that. And playing on the different meanings of the words, mahiṣīsaṃbhavo’pi vṛṣotpādī | mahiṣīsaṃbhava means, one that is born from a She- buffalo or producing a bullock, a cow. This is one instance of usage of pun that gives raise to impossible situations. The real meaning is - mahiṣīsaṃbhavo’pi, Mahisisambhava, the prince was born of the consecrated wife of a King, and that vṛṣotpādī, he was always following Dharma. And the contrast in meanings that these puns were producing were not looked in favour by the scholars of those days. Another example that is given for the impropriety of the poet is while describing a mountain with a sentence, pravṛddhagulmatayā rogīva dṛśyamānaḥ|. In this sentence the word Gulma has two meanings. One meaning is a variety of plants and another meaning is the organ stomach in a human being. As the gulmas were oversized on the mountain, he likens the mountain to a patient with a big stomach and all these were considered totally ridiculous and improper by the Sanskrit scholars of those days. tārakābhiḥ śvitrīva aśobhata viyat|. While describing the sky as there were white patches of the stars in the body of the sky he says, it was like a patient suffering from leprosy. The sky has been beautifully described by many other poets. But the similarity or the upamā he sees is the body. And therefore, Subandhu, talented in Śleṣa or the usage of puns, he was not considered as a Sukavi or a great poet. Poet Subandhu himself gives a reason for this – sā rasavattā vihatā navakā vilasanti carati no kaṅkaḥ | sarasīva kīrtiśeṣaṃ gatavati bhuvi vikramāditye || He is referring to Vikramāditya and says when Vikramāditya went out of this world all that remained in this world was his fame and with Vikramāditya’s departure sā rasavattā vihatā that fullness of Rasa or the emotions were also gone. As long as Vikramāditya ruled, there was an opportunity for the poets to write Rasavat- Kāvyas, the Kāvyas that were emotionally, sentimentally charged. However, everything was lost with his death and that sā rasavattā vihatā. navakā vilasanti - the new poets, who claim that they are poets are not actually great poets. He says - sarasīva kīrtiśeṣaṃ gatavati. Just as a lake that has dried up, the world has also lost all its beauty when Vikramāditya was gone.
It is indeed a very ordinary story and does not have many interesting incidents. However, the poet’s prowess in using the same words with different meanings called pratyakṣaraśleṣav can be seen throughout the work. On account of that, in few instances the propriety is also broken. In some situations, the poet’s talent for punning with double or even triple meanings has led to the absence of characterization or making natural descriptions etc. We have examples like - mahiṣīsaṃbhavo’pi vṛṣotpādī | The word mahiṣī, has two meanings in Sanskrit. One is paṭṭābhiṣiktā mahiṣī. Even though a king may have a number of wives, the first one who is qualified, who is fit to sit with him on the throne for paṭṭābhiṣeka is called mahiṣī, paṭṭamahiṣī etc. The other wives are just wives. And the word Vṛṣa also has two meanings. One is Dharma. And the other meaning is bullock. Vṛṣa, vṛṣabhaḥ like that. And playing on the different meanings of the words, mahiṣīsaṃbhavo’pi vṛṣotpādī | mahiṣīsaṃbhava means, one that is born from a She- buffalo or producing a bullock, a cow. This is one instance of usage of pun that gives raise to impossible situations. The real meaning is - mahiṣīsaṃbhavo’pi, Mahisisambhava, the prince was born of the consecrated wife of a King, and that vṛṣotpādī, he was always following Dharma. And the contrast in meanings that these puns were producing were not looked in favour by the scholars of those days. Another example that is given for the impropriety of the poet is while describing a mountain with a sentence, pravṛddhagulmatayā rogīva dṛśyamānaḥ|. In this sentence the word Gulma has two meanings. One meaning is a variety of plants and another meaning is the organ stomach in a human being. As the gulmas were oversized on the mountain, he likens the mountain to a patient with a big stomach and all these were considered totally ridiculous and improper by the Sanskrit scholars of those days. tārakābhiḥ śvitrīva aśobhata viyat|. While describing the sky as there were white patches of the stars in the body of the sky he says, it was like a patient suffering from leprosy. The sky has been beautifully described by many other poets. But the similarity or the upamā he sees is the body. And therefore, Subandhu, talented in Śleṣa or the usage of puns, he was not considered as a Sukavi or a great poet. Poet Subandhu himself gives a reason for this – sā rasavattā vihatā navakā vilasanti carati no kaṅkaḥ | sarasīva kīrtiśeṣaṃ gatavati bhuvi vikramāditye || He is referring to Vikramāditya and says when Vikramāditya went out of this world all that remained in this world was his fame and with Vikramāditya’s departure sā rasavattā vihatā that fullness of Rasa or the emotions were also gone. As long as Vikramāditya ruled, there was an opportunity for the poets to write Rasavat- Kāvyas, the Kāvyas that were emotionally, sentimentally charged. However, everything was lost with his death and that sā rasavattā vihatā. navakā vilasanti - the new poets, who claim that they are poets are not actually great poets. He says - sarasīva kīrtiśeṣaṃ gatavati. Just as a lake that has dried up, the world has also lost all its beauty when Vikramāditya was gone.
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