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 375

SANSKRIT AND PRAKRIT MAHAKAVYAS 357 Bharavi and Magha. His poem, though long, "carries us only to a description of the married bliss of Nala and Damayanti leaving off with a description of the moon carried out in a dialogue between the amorous pair." "The Naisadhiya unquestionably has a definite interest in the history of Sanskrit literature, for it exhibits the application to the charming episode of Nala of the full resource of a master of diction and metre, possessed of a high degree of skill in the difficult art of playing on words and capable of both delicate observation of nature and of effective expression of the impressions thence derived." The three works of Bharavi, Magha and Sriharsa are tough. Poetry to them was essentially a learned pursuit, the product of much cultivation. A poet, according to Mammata, must supplement his natural genius-pratibha by a careful study of the Sastras as also of the worldly topics of knowledge. He must even practise extensively under the watchful guidance of a Kavya-critic. In short, after Kalidasa, Kavya became a preserve of men of learning and scholarship. Scholarship displaced genuine poetry. The Kavya ultimately became an object of study for Pandita-sahrdayas rather than a delightful thing of beauty. Now, a mahakavya is expected to promote the four aims of human life :dharma, artha, kama and moksa Abhinavagupta's perceptive remarks on rasas in relation to the four purusarthas in the context of drama are : "Thus vira, raudra, srngara are used there respectively, occurring in these works by being engendered by (the aims of the characters portrayed) dharma, artha and kama, while santa and bibhatsa occur in connection with moksa. But not every character can carry the main role in this latter case, only the occasional saint. Although in the nataka, santa or bibhatsa may be the principal rasa when moksa is the principal goal, this is not a common practice, so they although engendered by the best of human aims (the character's pursuit of moksa) are considered subordinate to the other rasas-vira, raudra and srngara. Thus the main rasa of a drama is really governed by the purusartha if it portrays, but other rasas occur in support of it as a result of the variety of subjectmatter in hands." A. Bh. Vol. II, p. 451. Prakrit Mahakavyas, "Maharastri, the language of Maharastra, is called the best of Prakrits in which the works like the Setubandha are written", tells us Dandin in his Kavyadarsao. Hemacandra specifically refers, following Bhoja, to the three Prakrit poems : Ravanavijaya, Harivijaya and Setubandha, as composed in a single metre, i. e., the skandhaka from the beginning to the end?. There are two