ИСТИНА

Bāṇabhaṭṭa's “Kādambarī” and its interpretation in the 20th and 21st centuries In this paper two modern interpretations of the famous Sanskrit novel “Kādambarī” (written by Bāṇabhaṭṭa in the 7th century) will be analysed. Both interpretations are novels written in Hindi. The first one is “Bāṇabhaṭṭa kī ātmakathā” (1946) written by the prominent scholar of Indian literature, as well as the novelist, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi (1907–1979). The other novel is “Śesh Kādambarī” (2002) by Alka Saraogi (अलका सरावगी, b. 1960). The paper will discuss the main ideas of the two Hindi novels (the struggle for independence, the position of women in Indian society, conflicts between generations etc), the literary techniques of the two authors, as well as the differences in their interpretations of the original Sanskrit novel. Comparing the two modern novels with the original “Kādambarī” is a peculiar exercise in comparative literary studies. H.P. Dwivedi's “Bāṇabhaṭṭa kī ātmakathā”, the author's first novel, is a fictional autobiography of Bāṇabhaṭṭa, based not only on the “Kādambarī”, but also on the “Harsha-carita” (another Sanskrit novel of Bāṇabhaṭṭa).H.P. Dwivedi used the autobiographical information that could be culled from the two novels. The novel was published in 1946, just one year before India became independent. At that time the author taught Sanskrit and Sanskrit literature at Tagore's university “Vishva-Bharati” in Shantiniketan. The main objectives of the novel were to reconstruct the cultural heritage of India and to draw the attention of young generations to the heroic past of the country. The author wanted both to educate and to entertain readers. In this novel Indian and European literary traditions have been combined. One more important objective of the author was to write a novel in a literary Hindi, based on Sanskrit lexical rishes. Alka Saraogi belongs to quite a different generation of Indian writers. Her novel “Śesh Kādambarī” may be considered a perfect example of both the postmodern novel and what is called ‘women's writing’.