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have been obtained by him on account of his valour in vanquishing enemies, which is mentioned in the concluding line of the play 'राजन्वानस्तु शक्तिप्रशमितरिपुणा शत्रुमल्लेन लोकः' | The title Avanibhājana is referred to in the 4th Pāda of the Mangala Sloka 'स व्याप्ताविनिभाजनं दिशतु वो दिव्यः कपाली यश: 'and the titles Gunabhara and Mattavilāsa are also found in the words of Nāṭī in the Sthāpana 'जोव्वणगुणभरमत्तविळासम्पहसणं'. The title Gunabhara might have been given to him as he was the seat of all the virtues described in the verse 'प्रज्ञादानदयानुभावधृतयः fa: '(p. 3.). It is probably on account of the term Avanibhājanam happily employed in the line 'स व्याप्ताव निभाजनं दिशतु वो दिव्यः कपाली यश: ' so as to suggest the central incident of the plot namely ‘the handing over the vessel’, that the author was known by the title Avanibhājana. Similarly the title Mattavilāsa might have been conferred on him as it was aptly placed in the sentence जोव्वणगुणभरमत्तविळास' to suggest the name of the play also.
The author Mahendravikrama Varma flourished in the early part of the 7th century A. D., as he is known to be a contemporary of Chalukya Pulakeśin II, who came to the throne in 609 A. D.
My thanks are due to Rao Bahadur H. Krishna Sastri B. A., Officiating Epigraphist for the Government of India, for helping me with references to inscriptions relating to Mahendra Varman I.
The edition of this work is based on two palm-leaf manuscripts in Malayalam characters, about three centuries old. One of them was obtained by me from the Manalikara Mathom in South Travancore in the year 1908, and the other manuscript from Mr. Nilakanthan Chakyar of Mangaram in North Travancore in the year 1914.
