Rathangaduta

[Peter Wyzlic]

On Tue, 6 Dec 2005 10:43:35 +0100
  Daniela Rossella <ghezziem at TIN.IT> wrote:

> Dear lists, someone can kindly give me news about a 
>certain Rathangaduta, of
> which I have the Sanskrit text, published in Mumbai in 
>1857? It does not
> appear in any lists of dutakavyas presented in also very 
>recent studies
> about the messenger-poems, like that of Lalita Sengupta 
>(2003).
> I am eagerly looking for an English or a Hindi 
>translation of this little

It will probably not help much but you find in the New 
Catalogus Catalogorum, at least, two entries concerning 
this work. It has been ascribed to Kalidasa. See

1. New Catalogus Catalogorum Vol. 4, Madras 1968, p. 67b, 
s.v. Kalidasa
2. New Catalogus Catalogorum Vol. 3, Madras 1967, p. 
266ab, s.v. Kavikanthapasa

According to these entries the Rathangaduta has been 
printed along with a work called Kavikanthapasa. However, 
the NCC does not list manuscripts for the Rathangaduta.

This printed edition is listed in the Catalogue of the 
Sanskrit works in the India Office Library (now part of 
the British Library):

[Rathanga-duta, attributed to Kalidasa]. Sri-Mahakavi 
Kalidasakrtau Rathanga-duta-Kavi-kamtha-pasakhyau gramthau 
... [Telugu char.]
Tenali : Rajata Press, 1924. - pp. [1], 2, 24. 18x12 cm
Shelfmark No. San B. 785 (m)

Furthermore, Sures Chandra Banerji does *not* deal with 
this work in his: Kalidasa apocrypha / Sures Chandra 
Banerji. - Varanasi : Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 
1989 (Chowkhamba Sanskrit Studies ; vol. 102)

However, he mentions the above quoted edition in his 
bibliography (p. 319).

We don't have the following work here in our library:

Dev, Narendra:
Meghaduta evam paravartti duta-kavya : Samskrta-sahitya ke 
120 duta-kavyom ke kramabaddha sarvangina anusilana, 
"Samskrtetara-sahitya mem duta-kavya-parampara", 
"Loka-gitom mem sandesa-preshana", acarcita anya 100 
duta-kavyom ke sucana se samanvita vistrta "prakkathana" 
evam visishta "prastavana" se alankrta samiksha grantha / 
lekhaka Narendra Deva ; sampadaka Rudradeva Tripathi. - 
Mandasaura, Ma. Pra. : Sahitya-Samvardhana-Samsthana, 
1990. - xiv, 29, 428 p.

According to the title it deals with more than 100 duta 
kavyas. So it may not be improbable that it deals with 
Rathangaduta, too.

All the best
Peter Wyzlic

--
Indologisches Seminar der
Universität Bonn
Regina-Pacis-Weg 7
D-53113 Bonn
Deutschland / Germany