A Confident Genius and an Unsure Genius
यामीति प्रियपृष्टायाः प्रियायाः कण्ठसक्तयोः।
अश्रुजीवितयोरासीत् पुरो निस्सरणे रणः॥
yāmīti priyapr̥ṣṭāyāḥ priyāyāḥ kaṇṭhasaktayōḥ |
aśrujīvitayōrāsīt purō nissaraṇē raṇaḥ ||
In ancient India, there was a great dramatist and scholar named Bhavabhooti. He is considered equal to the celebrated Kalidasa in his literary genius. Some say that his Uttara-rAma-chatritam did to KaruNa rasam what KALidAsa’s SAkuntaLam did to Sr^n*gAra rasam — raise the dramas to the pinnacle of rasAbhivyan^janam!
Both KALidAsa and Bhavabhooti were stellar courtiers adorning the court of Raja Bhoja at the time this story takes place.
Once in Kailasa — the abode of Lord Siva — Goddess Parvati raised a question. She asked Siva, “Who has the greater KavipRatibhA, KALidaasa or Bhavabhooti?”
Siva answered- “Both are equally brilliant. But there is a slight difference in their personalities. Kalidasa has great confidence in himself and his PRatibhA-vilaaSam, whereas Bhavabhooti lags a bit behind in self-regard. Dear Goddess, You may assess both of them and judge for yourself who the great poet is.”
Goddess PARvati decided to test the two well-known poetic geniuses. She reeached and stood outside the impressive gate of King Bhoja’s palace disguising Herself as an ordinary woman. She held her son— Lord Subramania — in Her arms disguised as a dead infant.
After a while, all the learned men started coming out of the court one by one. She approached each one of them and pleaded: “Courtiers! Look over here please. My only son is dead as the result of a curse. He will have a resurrection if one of you completes the Sanskrit samasyA that I will recite now: पुरो निस्सरणे रणः॥” [ PurO nissaraNE raNah = there was a competitive struggle between the two: who will get out first? That is what the samasyA meant!]
All the exiting scholars tried their best to complete the samasyA, but the child did not show any sign of life after the utterance of the samsyA-pooRti-s ! Then, Bhavabhooti came out of the Royal Hall. The Goddess in disguise repeated the story to him as well.
Bhavabhooti completed the samasyA thus —
यामीति प्रियपृष्टायाः प्रियायाः कण्ठसक्तयोः।
अश्रुजीवितयोरासीत् पुरो निस्सरणे रणः॥
(यामीति प्रियपुष्टायाः प्रियायाः कण्ठलग्नयोः ।
वचोजीवितयोरासीत्पुरो निःसरणे रणः (Variant Reading))
“A lady love was embracing her beloved. Her lover was asking for her permission to depart. Hearing this, a battle occurred between her tears and her life itself, for leaving her body first.” (In other words, she felt she was going to cry but her Viraha grief was so deep that it was as if she might die.)
The samasyApooraNam was nothing short of brilliant, yet the child did not come back to life. “What will I do? The child is still dead,” the mother asked Bhavabhooti. Bhavabhuti responded “I have completed the samasyA at the highest level of my poetic ability. And I am sorry I have failed. But wait, there’s someone who will come out of the palace now. He is exceptional. He, I think, will be able to complete your samasyA in a better way.”
After trying to console the mother thus, Bhavabhooti left. Soon, KaaLidaasa came out of the Bhoja Court. He was also stopped by the Mother with the child at the gates. And she repeated her request presenting the samasyA. KaaLidaasa completed it exactly the same way as had Bhavabhooti. Yet, the infant did not move showing signs of having come back to life.
The Mother cried out: “O Poet, look at my baby, it still is dead.” KaaLidaasa said in answer: “Really? In that case, I think your child is not really dead. Unless he is dead how can he regain life? Let me tell you: No one has been born who can complete the samasyA as beautifully and perfectly as I did. And if your story is right, the child would have come back to life. Since you say he has not been resurrected, I believe that your child is not really dead!”
After saying this to disguised PARvati, Kalidasa left. Seeing his confidence, the Goddess became convinced of the accuracy of what Lord Siva had told Her in His infinite wisdom: Both the poets are equal in poetic genius, but KALidAsa is more confident of his prowess.
SRee PARvati went back to Kailasam with the pretending-to-be-dead Lord Subramania and told Siva MahAdEva how Her own experience had confirmed His omnicient judgement on the two master poets in the samskr^tam language!