the circumlocution 'honey-creator' instead of 'bumblebee'). There is also a translation into German by Mayer. Critical commentaries on the text have been written by, inter alia, Ghanashyama, Gupta and Pankaj. A more extensive bibliography may be found in Onians. Historical research The Dashakumaracharita has been used to examine the creation of the Ajanta Caves, interpreting it as an extended metaphoric telling of the 5th-century fall of the Vākāṭaka dynasty, and a comparison to the 7th-century Pallava dynasty, which is the period that the work is conventionally dated to. Spink argues that the work has an essentially historical core, almost readable as a roman a clef, which is an accurate account of the Vākāṭaka fall and that Dandin (or one of the Dandins) had a personal, perhaps familial, connection to the events in the 5th-century. Evidence from the text has also been used to establish the spread of the cult of Vindhyavasini in the period. Criticism and analysis The Dashakumaracharita has been compared to the Spanish genre of picaresque, linking the settings and drawing parallels 6th-century disorder of India to the disorder of Spain in the late mediaeval period. 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. Dandin may have borrowed major themes from the Brihatkatha. It has been said to focus on "how people are, rather than how they should be". Bibliography External links The Jacob translation at Project Gutenberg Daśakumāracarita text (In Romanized Sanskrit) Dashkumarcharitam by Dandi, 1822, Sharadakridan Press, Mumbai. English translation by M R Kale References 7th-century Indian books 8th-century Indian books Sanskrit literature Constrained writing