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IN DEFENCE OF HAR$A’S COURT POET MAYURA 241

when Harsa came conquering and Mahendra fled in fear. This Mahendra is evidcnlly Mahendravarman, predecessor of Narasirtihavarman Pallava, constantly at war wilh Pulakeśin, who had defeated him about the ycar A.D. 609-610."

What really amounted to an extreme confusion, which dominated the subsequent discussions relating to these stanzas, has been summarised in Dr. Devahuti's, Harsha: A Political Study, 1972, especially at pp. 97 flf.

The main assumption of all those critics, (including Dr. Devahuti), who took part in    analysing Mayura’s stanzas about    his    patron, was    that words

like ⁴ańga⁹,    ⁴kuntala \ ‘madhyadeśa ⁹ and ⁴kaficT⁹    were used    by Mayura

by employing ślesa to connote territoriaJ divisions of ancient Indian geography, current in that period.

Il was confidently assumed by those who commented on Mayura ’s tribute that in his praśasti, Mayura had dcfinitcly desired to imply that Harsa ’s conquests had penetrated soulhwards into peninsular India so as to include Kartel or present day Kanjivaram, not far away from the Southern tip of the subeontinent.

3.    The basie fault in the commenls of these critics has been to assume

that political    practice in ancicnt India justified    that    by ⁴ańga ⁹    was meant

the rulcr of Ańga, by 'kuntala⁹ , the ruler    of    Kuntala temlories, by

⁴madhyadeśa ⁹ was meant the ruler of ⁴Madhya Desa ⁹ and by ⁴ k&ńcT⁹ was meant the ruler of Kartel. Such a political practice was unknown to India before the advent of the Biritish rule. It is only sińce then that the double implication became current. This practice has conlinued to this day, e.g. it is quite common to rcad in press reports that Moscow approved the pact, whereas Washington took a dilTercnt point of view and Delhi stood neutral.

4.    The stanzas composed by Mayura indicated an altogether different scheme of sequence. It was purely erotic in naturę. It has been indicated in V2tsy2yana ’s Kamasutra. It was sculptured at Khajuraho. ⁴Kśńcyadi karah paiitah ⁹ means that fingcrs of the palm were deliberately directed under the girdle on the waist. The preceding ⁴ Madhya-deśam śkrsya ⁹ means, having pulled closer the middle portion of the body. The words ⁴ ahgam parimrśya ⁹ have to be similarly undcrstood. The word ⁴cola ⁹ means the bodice; and ⁴vyudasya ⁹ means ⁴having got rid of.’

Karah p&titah can never mcan a compellcd payment of taxes, as such intcrpretation involves a total disregard of the causal in ⁴pśtitah ⁹ .

5.    The classical concept of Prthiyf ¹ has been used here; ⁴prthivT⁹ stands for the elevated portions of the subeontinent. The concept has been used by Kaliddsa in Meghadutam and by Banabhatta in his Kśdambari. It is