Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 36

1. SOMADEVA AND HIS AGE
उद्धृत्य शास्त्रजलधेर्नितले निमनैः पर्यागतैरिव चिरादभिधानरः ।
या सोमदेवविदुषा विहिता विभूषा वाग्देवता वहतु संप्रति तामनर्धाम् ॥ In the latter verse Somadeva evidently refers to the unfamiliar words and the technical terms of the Sastras which he has used in his Kāvya. This was, in fact, a trait of Kāvya literature, especially of the later period, but Somadeva seems in this respect to have gone further than any other writer of the age.
Somadeva, like Bhavabhūti, sometimes gives expression to a sense of over-confidence in his own powers, and claims something like a monopoly of poetical talents (End of Book IV).
मया वागर्थसंभारे भुक्ते सारस्वते रसे । कवयोऽन्ये भविष्यन्ति नूनमुच्छिष्टभोजनाः ॥ In another place he says that if there are any honest people efficient in the art of poetry and the knowledge of the world, they should make it a point to study the utterances of the poet Somadeva.
#fara æface an af great: I HHT: T: ARTRIT 19: II 3. 513. That Somadeva himself was conversant with the art of poetry as well as the way of the world, that he was a kavi as well as a lokavid, a shrewd observer of contemporary society, is apparent from his works, and that is the highest compliment we can pay him. That this was considered high praise even in those times is shown by the fact that Jinasena in his Adipurāna I. 56 attributes these qualifications to his guru Virasena, the celebrated author of the Dhavală commentary.
Somadeva's self-assertion is in marked contrast to the modesty of an author like Siddharşi, who wrote his great allegorical romance about half a century before Yasastilaka was written.But it is noteworthy that in the opening verses of Yasastilaka Somadeva makes only modest claim behalf of his work. He begins by saying that there is nothing that has not been visualized by the all but omniscient poets of old; and it is a miracle when a present-day poet, however sharp in intellect he may be, happens to make any utterance comparable to theirs (1. 11). As regards his own Kāvya, he opines that it will create fun among the wicked, but will contribute towards the intellectual growth of the wise, while those who are impartial will not remain silent about the work. He hopes that the wise, whose sensibility has been made extremely dull by partaking of the excessive sweetness of
1 लोकवित्त्वं कवित्वं च स्थित भट्टारके द्वयम् । वाग्मिता वाग्मिनो यस्य वाचा वाचस्पतेरपि ।।. 2 In 908 A. D. See Jacobi's Preface to his ed. of Upamitibhavapropañcā katha, p. xxi. 3 सर्वज्ञकल्पैः कविभिः पुरातनैरवीक्षितं वस्तु किमस्ति संप्रति । ऐदंयुगीनस्तु कुशाग्रधीरपि प्रवक्ति यत्तत्सदृशं स विस्मयः ।।