The dasa kumara charita, or, Adventures of ten princes : a series of tales in the original Sanscrit / by Sri Dandi ; edited by H.H. Wilson.

  • Daṇḍin, active 7th century.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dasa kumara charita, or, Adventures of ten princes : a series of tales in the original Sanscrit / by Sri Dandi ; edited by H.H. Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tragupta; Susruta had Visruta; and Sumati, Pramati. During Rajahansa’s forest abode, also, there were brought to him or to his queen, on different occasions, five other youths, making, with the sons of the four ministers and Rajavahana, the Ten Kumaras. Three of these were Artha- pala, Pushpodbhava, and Sornadatta, the sons, respectively, of the absent ministers, Kamapala, Ratnodbhava, and Satya- varma; and the other two were Apaharavarma and Upa- haravarma, who were the sons of Praharavarma, the king of Mithila or North Behar, and friend of Rajahansa. Coming to the succour of his friend, he had been involved in his misfortune, and, attempting to regain his country with the reliques of his force, he had been attacked by the foresters, the Savaras, and lost his baggage and attendants. His two children also fell into the hands of the barbarous tribes, and one of them was about to be offered as a victim to Chandi, when he was saved by the timely interposition of a Brahman. The sacrifice of human victims by the tribes inhabiting the hills and forests of South Behar is often alluded to in the fictions of this date; and the practice, we know, still prevails among some of them, although it seems to have been driven farther to the South, being most prevalent among the Khunds of Gumsir. It is not long since, however, that proofs of its existence on the frontiers of the Jungal Mahals were brought to the knowledge of the British functionaries. The nine boys thus assembled were educated along with the prince, and became his constant associates. The parti- culars of their education present a curious detail of what were considered, no doubt, essentially princely acquirements _ The use of various tongues, skill in arms, and the manage- ment of horses and elephants, acquaintance with tradition, with the rules of polity, with rhetoric and logic, and with h