Avanti Sundari Katha Sara is a prose composition from South India, summarizing Avantisundari by Dandin. There is fanciful account of the origin of Avantisundarikathasara of the famous work Avantisundari by Dandin who flourished in Kanchi in 6th – 7th century.
According to the legend, a family of the Kaushika Brahmins,
living in Anandapura located in the northwestern province, migrated to
Acalapura in the Nasik country founded by one Muladeva. It is stated that, in
the same way as Adideva sprang up from the navel of Narayana, Damodara was born
of Narayanaswami, and the former is eulogized in a verse as a great prodigy who
became associated with King Vishnuvardhana (I.22).
The work narrates how Damodara dispatched an Arya verse to
Simhavishnu, a Pallava king who invited him to his court. Damodara, who had
been patronized by Durvinita of Ganga dynasty, moved on to the court of Simhavishnu.
He had three sons of whom Manoratha was the second. Manoratha had four sons and
one of them, Viradatta married Gauri, and Dandin, the narrator of the story,
was born of them.
Dandi, as the account in the work goes, was fostered by
Shruta and Saraswati, when he lost his parents at a young age.
The text mentioned above claims that Dandin was born in the direct
line of the poet Bharavi. The contention is not without any controversy and the
published texts have not succeeded in removing the controversy. Whether or not
the name Bharavi is a proper name is still debated. It is not clear how
Damodara is equated with Bharavi without any ground being assigned.
Avantisundari is a prose romance composed on the smooth
classical pattern of Bana’s Kadambari. The only available incomplete version
was edited by the Trivandrum Sanskrit series. It gives interesting details
about the political situation of the time, Mammalapuram shore temple, etc., and
the wanderings of the poet due to political instability in the region.
Some scholars believe that the other famous work by Dandin Dasakumaracharitam, at one time incorporated Avantisundari as well. The volume called Avantisundarikatha Sara is an anonymous summary of the work by Dandin, following the original style of the famous poet. It has been published in the journal of Oriental Research, Madras (vol XVI ff), confirming the continued popularity of the original work.