Kuvalayamala Part 2

SR No.: 002778
Original Sutra Author: Udyotansuri
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 368
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 12 MB

Page 149

110
KUVALAYAMALA
introduces can be seen anywhere in our Indian society under the environments so well sketched by him with personal experience and observation and study: this invests the story with some eternal values which need sympathetic understanding and renewed explanation for the betterment of man as a social being. Uddyotana is a good teacher; he knows the psychology of the audience; and he tells us how the minds of people are to be captured for better ends ($ 9).
Uddyotana is typically modest. His literary gifts and equipments have not made him vain. He has regard for his critics, but their alleged criticism does not undermine his faith in his involvement in and dedication to a purpose, namely, composing a Dharmakathā to instruct men and women in correct behaviour in their social set-up. He has as much regard for the appreciative critics as he has faith in his pursuit (6.11-2). In fact, he anticipates what kinds of flaws might be found in his Prabandha, and tries to explain them in a way ($$ 427-8). All the details, howsoever discordant, are justified in a dharmakathā, because they ultimately lead to Samyaktva. He wrote this only as a Dharmakathā, not out of any pride of his poetic abilities and not with the intention of composing a Kāvya, a piece of ornate poetry. He is prepared to admit grammatical lapses here and there. He adds that he was merely a mouthpiece in composing this work which was all inspired by Hrī-devī dwelling in his heart ($ 429): otherwise how could he compose 100 granthas within a prahara. The work is meant primarily for reciting by those who know desī-bhāsā and the style of Gāthā, otherwise it may be read from a Ms.
Despite his modesty, Uddyotana exhibits significant poetic talents throughout his work. His descriptions are often of the Varņaka type, rather ready-made for setting up wherever needed; so now and then some ideas get repeated (49.7 f.; 72.20 f.; etc.). Long metres and heavy descriptions add to the dignity of his verse and prose which often go together in this work as is the style of a Campū.1
1 On the Campū style see A. B. KEITH: A History of Sanskrit Literature, Oxford 1948, pp. 332 f. K. K. HANDIQUI: Yaśastilaka and Indian Culture, pp. 85 ff., Sholapur, 1949; Ch. TRIPATHI: Campū-kāvya kā ālocanātmaka evam aitihäsika adhyayana, Chowkhamba Prakāśana. No. 83, Varanasi 1965. The Campū style is characterised by a natural blending of prose and verse both of which flow out spontaneously for the poetic effect of the narration, One or the other cannot be detached without harming the current of composition: in fine, both are inseparable constituents of the poem. It is but inevitable from the trends of literary currents and from the age-old literary training and habits of our poets that prose would be used for narrating events and the verse would be better impregnated with poetic flash and flavour. Still it is not that they cannot serve each others' functions. Judged in this light, many works could not be called Campū simply because of the mixed presence of prose and verse. In the Pañcatantra, for instance, the verses stand detached; and the narration does not suffer, even if they are omitted. Likewise in the Samarāiccakahā of Haribhadra many verses are introduced for descriptions, religious instructions and moral exhortations: some of them can be skipped over and the narration is not affected. To a less extent, however, the same tendency is seen in the Kuvalayamālā. Here and there Uddyotana adds a description for heightening the effect of the context: he does not hesitate to duplicate such descriptive sections in verse and prose. Comparatively speaking the Kuvalayamālā has better claims for being called a Campū than the Samarāïccakahā. Some earlier Kannada Kāvyas like the Adipurāna and Bhārata of Pampa (A.D. 941) are in the Campū style. Though Trivikrama and Somadeva are pioneers of this style, it is rather in later works like the Bhārata-campū that the style becomes more effective.