Dashakumaracharita (The narrative of ten young men, IAST: Daśa-kumāra-Carita, Devanagari: दशकुमारचरित) is a prose romance in Sanskrit, attributed to Dandin (दण्डी), believed to have flourished in the seventh to eighth centuries CE.
These narratives are replete with accounts of demigods, ghosts, prostitutes, gamblers, intrigues with voluptuous women, astonishing coincidences, cockfights, anthropophagy, sorcery, robberies, murders and wars.
The reader is treated to some very striking passages; for instance, a seductive young girl (all of whose anatomical features are very frankly described) deftly prepares a fragrant meal of rice-gruel and vegetables for her prospective suitor in the sixth chapter of the Dashakumaracharita.
However, during the previous night of vigorous lovemaking, his lips have been nibbled several times by his beloved; as a result, they are now swollen, making it painful for him to close them.
Several other young men are brought to his dwelling due to various incidents (e.g., one is rescued from a river, another from a tiger, and still another wanders off from a battlefield during a skirmish).
After the scheme is accomplished (and the Brahmana marries the daughter of the King of Asuras), Rajavahana returns to earth, only to find that his friends have all scattered away.
Pushpodbhava saves a man falling from a cliff, who turns out to be his father, who had tried to commit suicide after becoming despondent for having lost his family.
Later Pushpodbhava acquires vast wealth by applying magical collyrium to his eyes to detect subterranean riches.
He accompanies Balachandrika to Daruvarma's apartment disguised as her female attendant, kills him when he tries to sport with her, and blames the death on the Yaksha.
Rajavahana and Avantisundari are married by a friendly conjurer who makes Chandavarman believe that the wedding ceremony is a delusion.
The lovers are discovered by royal attendants and reported to Chandavarman, who becomes furious, arrests Rajavahana and imprisons him in a wooden cage.
Then Chandavarman launches a military campaign against his rival King Simhavarman (carrying along the wooden cage onto the battlefield) and vanquishes him.
As he is about to be trampled to death by an elephant, the chain tied to his feet falls off and is revealed to be a nymph who had previously been cursed into assuming that form.
Several military allies of Simhavarman arrive at the scene, amongst whom all of Rajavahana's remaining missing friends are found.
Apaharavarman travelled to the city of Champa, where he became a gamester and a burglar and helped the maiden Kulapalika to gain her lover by enriching her with burgled wealth.
The jailor Kantaka uses his services to dig a tunnel out of the prison into the royal palace since Karnataka is enamoured of the princess and wishes to visit her in secret.
While Kampala is being led to his execution, Arthapala drops a poisonous snake on his body and makes him fall down senseless.
He had travelled to the Suhma country, where, by the grace of the goddess Durga, the king had obtained two children, a son (Bhimadhanva) and a daughter (Kandukavati).
One night he sees that a Siddha (sorcerer) is about to sacrifice the princess Kanakalekha of Kalinga in order to obtain miraculous powers.
The sorcerer's slave (a ghost) is overjoyed to be freed from his master and clandestinely carries Mantragupta into the palace, where he lives with the princess in the ladies chambers.
In order to rescue her, Mantragupta dresses in the rags and severed hair of the sorcerer and presents himself as an ascetic possessing magical powers.
This had forced the queen Vasundhara to take refuge (with her son and daughter) with Mitravarma, who proved to be a treacherous ally.
Then Vishruta arrives in the city with the young boy, restores the kingdom and meets the queen in a temple of Durga.
[2] In the early twentieth century, Agashe doubted this attribution on the grounds that the two works differ very widely in style and tone.
Since Dandin (literally, a staff-bearer) is also a common adjective for ascetics or religious mendicants, Wilson doubted whether it was the author's proper name at all.
On the basis of textual evidence from the Dashakumaracharita, he opines that the author must have lived earlier than the Muslim invasion of India, i.e., before the 11th century.
Several eminent scholars now believe on stylistic and other grounds that, as suggested by the verse summary and its Telugu translation, both the Avantisundarī and the Daśakumāracarita originally formed a single massive prose work that was broken up at a relatively early age in its transmission; another view is that the two represent separate stages in the life and work of the same author.
[7] Editions of the original Sanskrit text have been published in modern times by Agashe, Godbole and Parab, Kale, and Wilson.
In particular, the edition by Kale includes the original in Sanskrit, a literal English translation, as well as an extensive commentary on the stylistic and historical aspects of the text.
It has also been noted that the Dashakumaracharita, while fantastic, has realism that is not present in contemporary prestigious works, and involves thieves, prostitutes and other less exalted members of society.