काव्यमीमांसा (महाकवि राजशेखर - कवि-रहस्य एवं देश-विभाग सटीक)

INTRODUCTION. XXV From the foregoing discussion, it is easy to discover that the verse in question is addressed to Candragupta Vikramāditya by a contemporary poet, and is quoted by Rājaśekhara in his Kāvyamīmāṁsā. The second marriage of Dhruvadevī with Candragupta is also to be taken as a settled historical fact, on the authority of the Sañjan¹ copper plate of Amoghavarṣa I and the Cambay² plate of Govinda IV. Two more verses are quoted by Rājaśekhara on pp. 60-61 of the Kāvyamīmāṁsā, which throw a flood of light on the vexed question of the date of Kālidāsa. The verses in question record a conversation between a king and his messenger. Identical verses are subsequently quoted by Bhoja in his S'r̥ṅgāraprakāśa with the remark that here the king represents Vikramāditya and the messenger, Kālidāsa.³ The verses in question refer to a message, conveyed by Kālidāsa from the king of Kuntala to Vikramāditya who approves of the request made by the Kuntala king. Tradition ascribes to Kālidāsa a work called the Kuntaleśvaradautya, and as the subject-matter of the verses quoted here relates to the dip- lomatic communications of the king of Kuntala, it is not un- reasonable to suppose that the verses belonged to the now lost work Kuntaleśvaradautya of Kālidāsa. A verse from the same work quoted in the Aucityavicāracarcā by Kṣemendra refers to the fact that Kālidāsa as an envoy of Vikramāditya was not respected in the court of the Kuntala king who made him sit on the ground and did not offer a seat.⁴ It thus transpires that Kālidāsa was sent as an envoy to the court of the Kuntala king Pr̥thvīṣeṇa Vākāṭaka, a subordinate of the Gupta kings, by Candragupta II Vikramāditya and that on account of Kālidāsa's mediation friendly relations were established between the two royal houses. This embassy further helps us in fixing a suitable date for Kālidāsa, and once for all ends the controversy regarding his time, raging

1. हत्वा भ्रातरमेव राज्यमहरद्देवीं च दीनस्तथा लक्षं कोटिमलेखयत्किल कलौ दाता स गुप्तान्वयः ॥ E. I. Vol. XVIII, p. 248
2. सामर्थ्ये सति निन्दिता प्रविहिता नैवाग्रजे क्रूरता बन्धुस्त्रीगमनादिभिः कुचरितैरावर्जितं नायशः । शौचाशौचपराङ्मुखं न च भिया पैशाच्यमङ्गीकृतं त्यागेनासमसाहसैश्च भुवने यः साहसाङ्कोऽभवत् ॥ E. I. Vol. VII, p. 36.
3. See. infra. Notes. p. 215.
4. Ibid. 4