Studies in Jain Literature

SR No.: 001868
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 114
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, & Story
File Size: 14 MB

Page 340

322 STUDIES IN JAIN LITERATURE (19) The Kavi-Kalpalata of Devesvara (c. beginning of the 14th century A. D.) : This work is "directly modelled on the Kavyakalpalata with considerable plagiarism of passages in extenso." General Evaluation of the Jain works on Sanskrit Poetics We must not lose sight of the fact, when we judge the works, that they belong to the period of decline and decadence and that the creative period was over since long before. It is idle on our part to expect of the authors, whether Jain or non-Jain, (belonging to the decadence period) any new poetic theories. The writers' creative period had already propounded the various doctrines of rasa, alamkara, riti, dhvani, vakrokti and aucitya and there was hardly any scope to set forth a new doctrine of poetics. We must judge these works not by applying the test of originality and novelty of thought as they hardly lay claim to originality. Rather we must judge them as text-books presenting a rare collection of fine passages in earlier works for they are primarily intended as text-books, or as manuals of poetics to guide the aspiring poet in his profession, their primary object being Kavi-siksa-instruction of the aspiring poet in the devices of the craft. When they are judged from the correct stand-point we realise that they are not trash or insignificant and that they serve very well the purpose of text-books or of siksa-granthas as the case may be. Although these Jain authors and commentators in a sense do not contribute anything new to our knowledge they do, in another sense, contribute to our knowledge in that they have preserved long paragraphs, passages, chapters from the original far-famed works they drew on such as Bhamahavivarana, Dhvanyaloka, Vakroktijivita, Abhinavabharati, Locana, etc; and adopted passages have proved of invaluable help in restoring many corrupt passages and recovering lost passages and chapters. Jain Contribution To Aesthetics : Introductory Aesthetics or the inquiry into the character of beauty (Saundaryasastra) is a regular part of philosophy in the West. In India, it does not form part of philosophy. The study of aesthetics was carried on here by a distinct class of thinkers alamkarikas (literary critics) who were not professional philosophers. Naturally, they nowhere systematically discuss in their works the essential characteristics of art in general, or of the fine arts in particular. They deal mainly with beauty in creative literature, only in one of the fine arts. They do not explicitly or emphatically speak of the distinction between the "Fine Arts" and the "Lesser" or "Mechanical" Arts-those which minister to the enjoyment of man, and those which minister to his needs. Nor do they speak of "Arts of the