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The Dark Age Ridiculed, by Níla·kantha, Beguiling Artistry, by Ksheméndra, The Hundred Allegories, by BhállataWritten over a period of nearly a thousand years, these works show three very different approaches to satire. Níla·kantha gets straight to the point: swindlers prey on stupidity.The artistry that beguiles Ksheméndra is as varied as human nature and just as fallible. We are off to a gentle start Sanctimonious really no more than a warm-up among vices—but soon graduate to Greed and Lust. From there it's downhill all the way, as unfaithfulness leads on to fraud, and drunkenness to depravity; deception and quackery bring up the rear. What's this at the very end? Virtue? A late arrival, pale and unconvincing.This volume presents three Indian satirists with three different strategies: in the ninth century C.E., Bhállata sought vengeance on his boorish new king by producing vicious sarcastic verse, “The Hundred Allegories;” in the eleventh century, Ksheméndra presents himself as a social reformer out to shame the complacent into compliance with Vedic morality; and in the seventeenth century little can redeem the fallen characters Níla·kantha portrays, so his duty is simply to warn about the corruption of every social type.Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC FoundationFor more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org
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THE CLAY SANSKRIT LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JOHN & JENNIFER CLAY EDITED BY RICHARD GOMBRICH WWW.CLAYSANSKRITLIBRARY.COM WWW.NYUPRESS.ORG c 2005 by the CSL. Copyright All rights reserved. First Edition 2005. The Clay Sanskrit Library is co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Further information about this volume and the rest of the Clay Sanskrit Library is available on the following websites: www.claysanskritlibrary.com www.nyupress.org ISBN 0-8147-8814-9 Artwork by Robert Beer. Cover design by Isabelle Onians. Layout & typesettting by Somadeva Vasudeva. Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on acid-free paper. Bound by Hunter & Foulis, Edinburgh, Scotland. three satires N¯ılakan . t.ha, Ks.emendra & Bhallat.a EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY SOMADEVA VASUDEVA NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS JJC FOUNDATION 2005 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data N¯ılakan.t.ha D¯ıks.ita, 17th cent. [Kalivid.ambana. English & Sanskrit] Three satires / Nilakantha, Ksemendra & Bhallata ; edited and translated by Somadeva Vasudeva. p. cm. – (The Clay Sanskrit library) In English and Sanskrit; includes translations from Sanskrit. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8147-8814-9 (cloth : alk. paper) I. Title: 3 satires. II. Vasudeva, Somadeva. III. Ks.emendra, 11th cent. Kal¯avil¯asa. English & Sanskrit. IV. Bhallat.a, 9th cent. Bhallat.a´sataka. English & Sanskrit. V. Title. VI. Series. PK3798.N54K313 2005 891’.23–dc22 2004029512 Contents Sanskrit alphabetical order CSL conventions 7 7 THREE SATIRES Introduction 1. Bh´allata: The Hundred Allegories 2. Kshem´endra: The Grace of Guile 3. Nila·kantha: Mockery of the Kali Era 13 27 92 319 Notes 341 Bibliography 378 Index 383 A sandhi grid is printed on the inside of the back cover sanskrit alphabetical order Vowels: Gutturals: Palatals: Retroflex: Labials: Semivowels: Spirants: a a¯ i ¯ı u u¯ .r .¯r .l .¯l e ai o au m . h. k kh g gh n˙ c ch j jh n˜ .t .th d. d.h n. p ph b bh m yrlv ´s .s s h guide to sanskrit pronunciation a a¯ , aˆ i ¯ı, ˆı u u¯ ,ˆu .r but rather sit fee put boo vocalic r, American purdy or English pretty lengthened .r .¯r vocalic l, able .l e, ˆe, ¯e made, esp. in Welsh pronunciation ai bite o, oˆ, o¯ rope, esp. Welsh pronunciation; Italian solo au