KADAlIBAttL XI It is said that the poet Mayura was a contemporary and father-in-law ( or brother in-law ) of Bana. Mayura praised the sun in hundred verses, which make up the Suryas'ataka and became free from leprosy. Bana became jealous of him, maimed himself, composed the Chandls'ataka in honour of Durga who made him all right. The story of Mayura s freedom from disease is alluded to in the Kavyaprakas'a* There are Subhashitas in which Bana and Mayura are spoken of as contemporaries and as patronized by king Harshaf. Verses from the Suryas'ataka are quoted in the Dhvanyaloka ( latter half of 9th century A. D. )$. So it is not beyond the bounds of probability that Bana and Mayura were contemporaries. A Mayuraka is mentioned as one of the companions of Bana in his wanderings ( see the passage quoted above on p. IX ). But as he is mentioned there as a snake-doctor ( Jangulika = Vishavaidya ), it seems to us that he is not the same as the poet Mayura. II The date of Bana. As we are fortunate in possessing some account of Bana from his own pen, so also we are lucky in being able to fix the date of Bana beyond the possibility of cavil. As a matter of fact, Bana's date is one of the surest planks in the totter- ing structure of ancient Indian Chronology. This is not the place to set out in detail how Bana's date has been fixed. Suffice it to say that a famous Chinese traveller, Hiouen Thsang, was in India from 629 A. D. to This verse is ascribed to Rljas'ekhara and is quoted in the Subhashitavali and the S'&rngadharapaddhati. ^TOTSHif^far 1 uotfid fr0m Mr - 1>arakhi ' 8 work - X The verse 's^m^:' &c. at p. 99.
