महावीरचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - वीररस-प्रधान रामकथा नाटक सम्पूर्ण ७ अङ्क सटीक)

ii. 3³—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [32 Ātreyī—There [occurred] a great hindrance to the course-of-studies (adhyayana); and so was this long journey undertaken. Sylvan Deity—Of what sort [may this hindrance be]? Ātreyī—To him, the exalted one [Vālmīki], some unknown (viśesha) divinity has made over two boys in every respect marvellous and being of an age when they were just weaned. These boys have indeed captivated the inmost hearts not only of [Vālmīki] himself but also of all movable and immovable beings¹ whatsoever. Sylvan Deity—And are their names known? Ātreyī—That same divinity, 'tis said, announced Kuśa and Lava as their names, and [declared also] their prowess. Sylvan Deity—Prowess, of what nature? Ātreyī—They have—so runs the report (kila)—a mastery from their very birth over the jṛimbhaka missiles with their secret spells. Sylvan Deity—This, to be sure, is passing strange! Ātreyī—Now these [boys] the exalted Vālmīki, having taken upon himself the duties of a nurse, has brought up under his care. As soon as they had gone through the chaula²-ceremony he [Vālmīki] assiduously grounded them—with the exception of the three Vedas—in the three³ other branches of knowledge. And then when the [boys] had reached the eleventh year from their conception, they were, according to the rites proper to a Kshatriya, invested with the Sacred Thread and instructed in the knowledge of the Three [Vedas] also.⁴ Now with these two [boys], possessed of exceedingly brilliant power of comprehension and retentiveness as they are, [students] like us cannot keep pace in the studies. For, The preceptor imparts unto the clever, instructions just the same as unto the dull, and in no wise doth he their power of compre- hension either make or thwart; and yet there does result a vast difference as to the outcome: for we know (tad-yathā) that [only] a pure crystal is able to take in images, and not a [mere] lump of clay. 4 Sylvan Deity—And this then is the hindrance to your course-of-studies? Ātreyī—[There is] yet another. Sylvan Deity—And what can this other be? Ātreyī—Then, once upon a time, this Brahman-sage [Vālmīki], for his

---

¹ Not only animals and plants, but even mountains and rivers and the whole mineral kingdom, in fact, possess souls. ² Lit. 'forelock'-ceremony: clipping a boy's hair with the exception of five little tufts or locks. At the time of marriage these 'forelocks' give place to a single central tuft or śikhā. ³ Logic, Economics, Politics: the Vedas form the fourth branch. See Kauṭilīya, p. 6. ⁴ The Vedas may not be taught before the Sacred-thread ceremony.