5. The Author of the Bhattikavya. 
By Surenpra Natu Mazumpar, Sastri, M.A. 
The question of the authorship of — Bhattikavya—the 
kavya of Bhatti—and its date is still an open one. The only 
information supplied by the author is eonbaned in a verse in 
the last canto in which he has stated that it was composed at 
Valabhi in the reign of Sri-Dharasena. But as there were 
four Dharasenas (end of the fifth century to the middle of 
the seventh), even this detail is of no use in fixing the date 
absolutely. 
Again there are doubts as to the name of the author him- 
self. Though the very name of the kavya shows that the name 
of the author was Bhatti, some commentators (e.g. Bharatamal- 
lika, Vidyavinoda, ete. ) name the author as Bharirhari. And 
supposing that ‘‘ Bhatti yh ce work) could in pee have been 
represented by ‘‘ Pida’’ or ‘‘ Peina’’ or ‘ Vina,’’ which I-tsing 
stated to be a work of Bhartrhari containing Abe 3000 verses, 
the late Prof. Max Miiller thought that Bhattikavya is the 
work of the grammarian-poet Bhartrhari who died in 651 a.p. 
after having fluctuated seven times between the Buddhist 
monastery and the world (Takakusu’s I-tsing, p. 
Professor Macdonell also has given this account in 1 p. 327 of 
his ee of Sanskrit Literature. 
t Dr. Kielhorn has shown (I1.A. 1883, pp. 226—27) that 
bs Piena” or ‘‘ Pida’’ can not represent Bhatti. He takes it to 
be the ‘‘Prakirna’’ which, though now taken as the third 
chapter of the Vakyapadiya, was taken, as late as the twelfth 
ete as a work distinct from the Vakyapadiya. 
I-tsing, who visited India only forty years after 
Bhartrhari s death and has given a very detailed account of 
his works (Takakusu’s I-tsing, pp. 178—80), has mentioned only 
three of his works—(1) the curni, the commentary on the 
Mahabhasya; (2) the Bhartrhari-Sastra (Vakyapadiya) ; oe 
(3) the Peina or Prakirna. There is, therefore, no good rea 
for attributing the Bhattikavya to Bhartrhari, 35 egrammaian 
r. . Mazumdar popularized the t ry (J.R.AS. 
904, pp. 395—97) that Bhattikavya is the ai al the ‘poet 
pe the author of the Mandasor Sun-temple Inscription 
(Fleet’s Gupta Inscriptions No. 18), dated 473 a.D. A few 
Stanzas of this inscription resemble the ean of ane 
in canto II of the Bhattikavya. He then may be, continu d 
Mr. Mazumdar, a poet of the court of Dharasena I, the —_ 
king of Valabhi. This early date (fifth century as opposed to 
