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

216 EXPLANATORY NOTES mised that Kuntaleśvara had secret hostility against his sovereign king Vikramāditya and that Vikramāditya had sent Kālidāsa, his ambassador, to Kuntaleśvara to remove that hostility by establish- ing new bonds of friendship. Kālidāsa became successful in his mission, and made Kuntaleśvara faithful to his overlord king Vikramāditya. This fact, Kālidāsa conveys to his patron through the stanza: असकलहसितत्वात् etc. as stated by Bhoja in the above quotation. The approval: पिबतु मधुसुगन्धीन्याननानि प्रियाणां etc, expressed by Vikramāditya with reference to the request conveyed through Kālidāsa by Kuntaleśvara, shows that Vikrama had established friendly connections with Kuntaleśvara. Now the question arises as to who this Kuntaleśvara is. From the History of the Vākāṭaka Empire (cir. A. D. 284- 550) as given by Mr. K. P. Jayaswal in J. B. O. R. S. vol. XIX. I. II., it may be surmised that Pṛthvīsena I (cir. 348-375 A. D.), who subjugated the king of Kuntala or the Karṇāṭaka country and the Kadamba kingdom, was hostile to the Gupta kings, because Samudragupta defeated and killed his father Vākāṭaka Rudrasena I or Rudradeva I (cir. 344-348 A. D.) who was the reigning sovereign. Samudragupta, however, later re-instated Pṛthvīsena on the vacant throne of his father, as one of the सामन्त kings under the Gupta sovereignty. During the reign of Candragupta II, this Vākāṭaka king Pṛthvīsena gained much power due to his victory over the Kuntala country and the Kadambas. Candragupta who initiated a policy of political marriages with families of subjugated kings, wanted, at that time, to remove the hostile feeling and establish friendship with the Vākāṭaka prince Pṛthvīsena. This idea, very probably, prompted Candragupta to send Kālidāsa as an ambassador to the court of the Vākāṭaka king Pṛthvīsena who was then called Kuntaleśa also due to his victory over the the Kuntala country. We have, however, another testimony for this Gupta Vākāṭaka relation. Prabhāvatī-guptā, the daughter of Candragupta II through the Nāga princess Kubera Nāga, was given in marriage to Vākāṭaka Rudrasena II, (cir. 375-395) the son of Pṛthvīsena I, and her son was Pravarasena II (cir. 405- 435) To this Pravarasena is attributed the Setubandha Kāvya which is generally believed to have been composed by Kālidāsa on behalf of Pravarasena at the request of his patron Vikramāditya Candragupta, the grand-father of Pravarasena II of the Vākāṭaka dynasty.