पृष्ठम्:Mudrarakshasa.pdf/२३

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MUDRÂRÂKSHASA..


bours, the later Guptas, in their wars with the white Huns**, it is again not impossible that the Mleclichhas referred to in the last stanza of our play were these white Huns, whose inroads are sup- posed by General Cunningham to have occurred in the fifth and sixth centuries A. D. All this, however, is only possible at present; further light on the subject must be awaited, before we can come to any safe conclusion upon it.

There is one other line of inquiry which may be worth pursuing, as it may lead to some result bearing upon the age of the Mudrârâkshaşa. The scene of the play is laid for the most part in the city of Pataliputra, or Kusumpura, as it is also called.|+ Now it may be argued, I think, with some ground of reason, that the geography of our play must have been based not upon the state of things which existed in the time of Chandragupta, and which probably there were no materials for ascertaining at the date of the play, but upon the state of things which actually existed at the time when the play was itself composed ##. And more especially may this argument be accepted in the case of those indications of geographical facts which are yielded only in an incidental way by passages in the drama designed for an entirely different purpose. Now, if we put together these geographical indications, we find that the Pâtaliputra, where the scene of the play is laid, was to the south of a river named the Śoņa, $$ and that the king's palace in that city overlooked the River Ganges|**|. T I think we may also safely assume that this Pâtaliputra was an existing city at the time of the composition of the play. This last proposition follows almost as a logical consequence, if we are right in the


  • See Cunningham's Arch. Sur, Report, Vol. III., p. 135; also Harshacharita,

p. 116; and Cf. Mr. Fergusson's S'aka Sainvat and Gupta Eras, and J. A. S. B., Vol. IX., P. 849, about the white Huns and their invasions of India.

  • |Cf, as to these names, &c., Dr. Hall's Vasavadattâ, Preface p. 35; Cunningham's

Arch. Sury. Report, Vol. XIV., p. 1, et seq; Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. XVII., p. 49; see also Beals Fa-Hian, p. 70; Kern's Bruhatsamliitâ, Prefaco pp. 37-40; J. R. A. S. (N. S.)., Vol VI., pp. 227-228; Burgess's Arch, Sury. Report, Vol. V., p. 43. In some places, Kusumapura is distinguished from Påtaliputra, and is identified with the Modern Fulvari. But in our play they are treated as interchangeable names, see pp. 187, 196, 198, 203. ## Cf. Cunningham's Arch, Sury. Report Vol VIII., P. 22. $$ see pp. 211-14; Patanjali in the Mahâbhâshya, mentions. Pâtaliputra, as being on the S'ona; see Indian Antiquary Vol. I, p. 301; Cunningham's Arch. Sury, Report, Vol. VIII., pp. 6, 11, 8; see too, Indian Antiquary, Vol. V., PP. 331-4.

  • $$ See p. 154 infra
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