YAROSLAV VASSILKOV
yavass011@gmail.com
CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE NALOPĀKHYĀNA
The “Tale of Nala” (MBh 3,50–76), well known to all Indologists, in some aspects still remains an enigma. How can we explain, for example, the contradiction between the archaic worldview of the story and a comparatively late date of Vidarbha and Niṣadha being drawn into the realm of the Sanskritic culture? Even more important is the difference in treatment of the basic epic theme “separation and reunion of lovers”. In the Sanskrit heroic epics, the wife of the hero is abducted, or at least threatened by an attempt at abduction. The hero searches for her, rescues her, and punishes the offender. But in the “Tale of Nala” the roles are reversed: the hero disappears, while the heroine suffers and undertakes the search for him. What accounts for this reversal, and from what source might the Sanskrit heroic epic have received a tale exhibiting a sequence characteristic of lyrical poetry? Up to the last centuries BCE both Vidarbhas and Niṣadhas were viewed by the Sanskrit sources among other dakṣināpathavāsinaḥ, inhabitants of the Deccan, as non-Āryas, or people of mixed origin. Situation was changed when Vidarbha became a part of the Sātavāhana empire (2nd c. BCE – 3rd c. CE), the rulers of which promoted the cultural exchange between the Indo-Aryan culture of the North and local pre-Aryan cultural traditions. The mixture of cultures resulted in the emergence of a new Indo-Aryan language, Mahārāṣṭrī Prakrit, and the appearance of lyrical poetry in this language, represented by the anthology Sattasaī, attributed to the king Hāla Sātavāhana. The first samples of lyrical poetry in Sanskrit emerged under obvious influence of the Deccan traditions of poetry. In Niṣadha, the land of forests and high hills, the process of “Sanskritization” proceeded slower; it was only in the late 5th century CE that the former tribal chiefdom turned into a strong kingdom ruled by the Nala dynasty. In the beginning of the 6th century CE, the Nalas conquered neighboring Vidarbha, which was at that time a great center of learning in Prakrit and Sanskrit. The comparison of the poetics in Nalopākhyāna with imagery and motifs in the Sattasaī and even in lyrical poetry of the Tamils leads us to the conclusion that the Sanskrit “Tale of Nala” borrowed its basic poetic conventions from the ancient tradition of Decan Dravidian lyrical poetry, probably, through the medium of poetry in Mahārāṣṭrī Prakrit. Oral or written composition in Sanskrit of the Nala-Damayantī story could have as its main aim the legitimation of Deccan dynasties and, may be, in particular, the legitimation of the Nalas’ power as masters of Vidarbha in the 6th century CE