The Purusapariksa is a rare work of great value since it deals with the 'ideal man'. According to the author, 'Purusa' combines in him the qualities of valour, intellegence, knowledge and pursuance of the purusarthas - dharma, artha, kama and moksa. A critical analysis of this text from the point of view of social and cultural values of that time is presented in this work.
Dr.V. Anusha completed B.Sc. (Hons.) in Physics from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Anantapur Campus. She had secured First Rank in M.A. (Sanskrit) and completed M.Phil. in Sanskrit from Presidency College, Chennai. She had procured her Ph.D. from the University of Madras through the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Mylapore, Chennai.
She had worked as Lecturer of Sanskrit in Stella Maris College, Chennai from 2000 to 2003. She had been an Editorial Assistant in The New Catalogus Catalogorum project of the Sanskrit Department of University of Madras from 2004 to 2006 and had also been a part of the Research projects of the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute Mylapore, Chennai. Since 2008, she is working as Assistant Professor of Sanskrit in Ethiraj College for Women (Self-Supporting), Chennai. She has presented research papers in State and National level Conferences and has published research papers in reputed research journals. She had also presented talks in the Sanskrit programme of All India Radio, Chennai.
Orientalists are unanimously of the opinion that Indians were the first and best story-tellers of the world. These Indian stories migrated far and wide and were rendered into almost every major language of the past.
'Folk-tale', 'bird and beast fable', 'romantic tale', 'popular tale', 'didactic story', 'allegorical story', 'adventure story', 'moral anecdote' etc., are some of the modern terms which have been used to characterise the vast body of Indian stories in Pali, Prakrit, and Sanskrit.
Unfortunately, the bulk of the vast Katha literature in Sanskrit and Prakrit is lost since their creative period was before the Gupta era. However, today they are available in the form of different versions and adaptations.
The Brhatkatha of Gunadhya (4th cent. B.C.), probably is the earliest source book available to all later writers and story tellers in ancient India. The cultural ethos depicted here are related to man in his quest for riches and merriment of life. Following this, Dandin wrote his Dasakumara-carita turning adventurous rogues into heroes, and Bana his Kadambari and Subandhu his Vasavadatta exploiting the supernatural aspects of life.
The Jatakas and the Avadanas deal with religious values, while the Pancatantra and the Hitopadesa teach moral values. The Indian convention is to set the action in a royal court, as in the case of the above works and also tales like Vetalapancavimsati and Simhasana-dvatrimsika.
The Purusapariksa is a rare work of great value since it deals with the 'ideal man'. The hero, the intelligent, the skilled adept and one who has obtained the four objects of life namely, dharma, artha, kama and moksa, are the ideal men according to the author. It had been chosen by me for my Ph. D. programme to make a study of this text and analyse the same from the point of view of social and cultural values of that time.
Vidyapati's work is to be eternally valued in a society wherein there is erosion of values and where the customs and tradition of the past are getting forgotten. The author, being a responsible scholar of his days dutifully compiled the values, social behaviour and traditions in which he believed and practised under one head and has presented them in the form of these beautiful stories. Without any doubt these are of great value to the present-day generation.
I express my deep gratitude to my guide and supervisor, Dr. V.Kameswari, Director, the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Chennai, for suggesting the topic of research, guidance and ready help in the preparation of this dissertation.
I am highly indebted to Dr. C. S. Sundaram (Retd. Reader, Dept. of Sanskrit, University of Madras) and to Dr. N.S. Satakopan (Retd. Prof. of Sanskrit, A.M. Jain College, Chennai) for their help in understanding some of the difficult texts.
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