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LITERATURE
logies like the Kavīndravachanasamuchchaya and the Saduktikarnāmrita. In one of these, he
praises Karna.1 The other two poets are known from Mērutunga’s Prabandhachintāmani.2
Nāchirāja also was a renowned poet. In a tribute which the poet Karpūra pays to him,
he is said to be the only support of Bhāratī after the death of Muñja and Bhōja, the famous
poet-kings of Dhārā.3 Both Karpūra4 and Nāchirāja5 have left us beautiful verses in
praise of Karna.
It seems that there were competitions in samasyāpūrana (completion of incomplete
verses) at the court of Karna. Those who completed the samasyās successfully were
liberally rewarded. Several years ago, Sir G. A. Grierson published, under the heading ‘Curiosities of Indian Literature’, a strange story about ‘King Dahāriā Karna and the Pandit’s promise.’6 In this story a Pandit composes extempore five versesâone about the queen
of Karna Dahāriā, who, being attracted by his melody, goes to him at dead of night, and
four more which he recites next day before the king. The latter being pleased with them
makes up his mind to give him his kingdom in all the four directions. He even allows
the Pandit to take him as a prisoner before his mother in fulfilment of a promise made
to her. The story is absurd as it stands, but some of the stanzas mentioned in it may
have been recited at Karna’s court. Two of them, which end in kritakam manyē bhayam
yōshitām, are of the samasyāpūrana type.7 They specifically refer to Karna and describe
his fame as roaming about fearlessly. They were evidently composed by different poets.
This is also shown by the remark kayōr=api âof some two poets’, with which they are cited
in the Subhashitāvali. The first of them, which does not explicitly refer to the king’s fame,
but apparently describes a lady coming out of the king’s seraglio in pitchy darkness, seems
to have given rise to the fantastic story mentioned above.
Karna gave a liberal patronage to Prakrit poets also. Some Mahārāshtrī and Apa-bhramśa verses, describing the king and his victories, occur in the Prākrita Paingala.8
They were first brought to notice by Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar in his Report on the Search for
Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts.9 Unfortunately the authors of these verses are not
named in the commentaries. Again, Kanakāmara, the author of the Apabhramśa work
Karakandachariu, tells us that he delighted the mind of the king Karna, who was probably
none other than the homonymous Kalachuri king.10
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