28 Fragments of three early Hindu dramatists. [No. 1. 



Fragments of three early Hindu dramatists, JBhdsa, JRdmila, and 

 Somila. — By Fitz-Edwabd Hall, M. A. 



Elsewhere I have stated my belief that these are the poets who 

 are named, witli implied eulogy, near the opening of the MalaviMgni- 

 mitra.* Bluisa should seem to be also called by the longer name of 

 Bhasaka ; and it may be doubtful, owing to the variations of manu- 

 scripts, whether Somila be orthographical, or Saumila. That the 

 author of the Mdlavilcdgnimitra, to whom these poets were of course 

 antecedent, is the Kalidasa of "Vikramaditya is, perhaps, question- 

 able. Yet, whoever he is, he belongs to a respectable antiquity : 

 and such are his own merits that his encomium would scarcely be 

 expected of any competitors but such as once enjoyed considerable 

 repute. In the ensuing verses we have all the remains of these 

 three play-writers that appear to have reached the present time. 

 For these few lines we are indebted to the S'drngadhara-paddhati, 

 of which work I have collated several excellent and somewhat vener- 

 able copies. I commence with the relics of Bhasa, whose era may be 

 carried back, with positiveness, to the seventh century, at theleast.f 

 Supplials, in the translations, are indicated by italics. 



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* Preface to the Vdsavadattd, pp. 14 and 15, foot-note : also pp. 20 and 21 

 foot-note. 



t See the preface to the Vdsavadattd as by the last note. Bana, in the Harsha* 

 cliarita, speaks of Bhisa. He is also extolled by Bajasekhara. But Rajase- 

 kharaV age is still to be precisely determined. It is certain that he was not very 

 ancient. The Jagaj-jwa-vrajya of Jayadeva, cited in the sixth chapter of the 

 Padya-veni, a poetical anthology by Venidatta, son of Jagajjivana, whimsically 

 characterises Bhasa, with Chora, Mayura, Kalidasa, Harsha, and Bana : 



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