2. On the Genuineness of the Eighth Canto of the 



Kumar a 



By Rai Monmohan Chakravarti Bahadur. 



Of Kalidasa very little is unfortunately known. Hence 

 ™ t^,. i xi ^ j. any scrap of information about his 



The Eighth Canto. J , u u 1 t 4.1. • 



works would be welcome. In this paper 

 I raise the question whether the eighth canto of his great 

 poem the Kumara-sambhavam (the birth of the war-god) is 



spurious or genuine. 



The older reports on the search of Sanskrit manuscripts 



^ , . , ^rcc , in India were often silent on the point 



Found m few MSS. only. , . u , u . , c ,i- „_ 



J whether the manuscripts of this poem 

 contained the eighth canto or not. Where the reports mention 

 the number of the cantos, the manuscripts are found to con- 

 tain generally not more than seven cantos. Manuscripts con- 

 taining the eighth were rare. Moreover, the commentaries now 

 existing run up, in ninety-nine instances out of hundred, to 

 seventh canto only. Hence arises the question whether the 

 eighth canto found in a few manuscripts is genuine or spurious. 

 In Bengal the mediaeval Sanskrit writers appear to have 



been doubtful on the point. Bharata 

 Deemed doubtful in gena (Ma]lik) m his we ll-known com- 



enga ' mentary on the Kumara-Sambhavarh 



voiced the traditionary opinions of his predecessors when in 

 the introductory verses he remarked * : 



" It is said that the great poet Kalidasa made the epic poem 

 Kumara-Sambhavam in sixteen (sic seventeen) cantos. The 

 circulation of the last eight cantos ceased from supernatural 

 reasons : while the eighth canto is not read from the curse 

 of the goddess. A commentary on the (first) seven cantos 



l Sanskrit College MS., vol. VI, 29, introd. verses 2-4: 



rorsvw vim t*^ rqr * fa?rt n [ *h ] 



Bharata Sena's time is not yet settled. Anyhow he must b< 

 than Saka 1650 or 1728 a.d. , the date of a MS. of his Ghatakarpa 

 ^R. Mittra. Notices, vol. IX. Xo 3172). 



