45. 42 HISTORY OF SANSKRIT POETICS

42 HISTORY OF SANSKRIT POETICS

from the truth. Dr. D. C. Sircar ( ournal of Andhra H. R. Society, vol. XII. p. 108 ff) opines that the fact that the present text mentions the countries of महाराष्ट्र (in 14. 38) and नेपाल (in 14. 43) definitely points to a date later than the 2nd century A. D., since aurer is first mentioned in Samudragupta-prasasti in the first half of the 4th century and HaRrsg is mentioned first in the HETaRT (5th century) and in the Aihole inscription (of 634 A. D.). This is a strange and unconvincing argument. Names of countries do not drop down all at once from heaven nor is there anything to show that the name was first coined by Ha or his panegyrist or by some one else at a particular period. If aureT is mentioned about 325 A. D., no reason is given why it could not have existed as a name two hundred years earlier. The same reasoning applies to महाराष्ट्र. In 634 (Aihole inscription) महा- Trs was a vast territory containing three provinces and 99000 villages).1 In the Nanaghat Inscription (A. S. W. I. vol. V. p. 60) the word Mahārathi occurs (about 200 B. C.) which can very well be explained as meaning an inhabitant of Mahārā- stra, though it must be conceded that that word is differently interpreted by several scholars.

was composed at the latest in the 5th century A. D. in HERIEA- mraa. Even if Bharata preferred Sauraseni, which might have been due to his being a native of qaa (the country round ab- out UTT) or because the art of writing dramas was very much cultivated there before his time, no reasons are forthcoming to establish that HERTt in which such an elegant poem as the Setubandha was composed in the 5th century at the latest could not have existed as a TaaHTeT at all some centuries earlier. On p. 43 he says that the avatāras of Vișnu are not mentioned, but in chap. 13. 152 (Ch. ed.) we read या कता नरसिंहेन विष्ुना प्रभविष्णुना and अभिनवगुप्त explains the verse (G.O.S.XII. 154, vol. II. p. 162). His views on महाराष्ट्री as a later phase of शौरसेनी (Depart- ment of Letters, Calcutta University, vol. 23) have been critici- zed by Dr. Ghatge in an informing paper 'on Mahārāstri Language and Literature' in Journal of the Bombay University (vol. II. part 6 pp. 19-70 at pp. 22-35). Vide also Dr. Ghatge on Saurasenī in Journal, Bom. Un. vol. III. part. 6 pp. 44-62. 1 भगमदधिपतित्वं यो महाराष्ट्रकाणा नवनत्रतिसहस्त्रग्रामभाजां त्रयाणाम्।। E. I. vol. VI. p. 1 at p. 4.