33
the fifth chapter of the ^poem of Harshacharzta? u Bana may have afterwards inserted a verse from the Ratnavali in his-recognised poem of Harshacharita, as a tacit assertion of his claim to the authorship of that work"—this is Dr. Hall's* explanation. Either of these arguments are unauthentieatecl* The learned doctor stands alone among scholars that ha ever collated MSS. of Mammata's work. It- must have been noteworthy copy indeed ! Besides, not one of the mode editions-of the 4poem of Harshacharita,' as it is termed by scholar, contains the stanza referred to. The only verse which perhaps might be pitched upon has the first letter alone or at most the first word common with the line of the Ratnavali-Bana was wealthy and had a rich ancestral estate. He had no-end in selling his work for lucre ; was but if that were his end 1 there is no reason why he could not have sold his master-r piece, the Kadambari, which must have procured him a better
fortune. As usual therefore Dr. Hairs suggestions are mere-conjectures nor is there generally any solid basis for bis-insinuating criticisms. (Vide Subandhu).
Regarding Dhavaka, nothing had been known till very lately when a new theory was advanced by a scholar of Madras. He makes some valuable hits in his < introduction to the Ratnavali; Dhavaka (lit. waterman) is identified witti* Bhasa, the great predecessor of Kalidafea in the field of poetry These are his ratio detidtndii:—
(i) That a comparative study of works akin to the plays. of Sriharsha shows: (a) that there is a close identity of plot between the Malavikagnimitra on the o:ne> hand and the Ratnavali on the other-and that if i » the Malavikagnimitra were the earlier, it is difficult
to explain how the other two ever came tohe Vedas. Compassion to all is the highest doctrine inculcated both in the Ramayana and in the Mahabharata—decidedly pre-Buddhistie 6hat the Puranas weres weji-known by that day and that the poet might have preferred the account pf,the Matsya finding it., more, suitable for drama-tisation? ' . • • • . /•;-.: ". ... -' '-•• ..;-• ' . ' . f,/: \\