Lilavai

SR No.: 002796
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1966
Total Pages: 500
Language: Sanskrit, Hindi, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 15 MB

Page 65

38
LĪLĀVAI
Bhāmaha (Kāvyālamkāra I. 25-28) says that Akhyāyika is a literary composition in pleasent and befitting prose ; it has an exalted subject matter; it is divided into ucchvāsas; it records facts of experience: the narrator is the hero himself; it contains indicative vaktra and aparavaktra verses; it allows scope for poet's personal imprint; it includes topics like abduction of a girl, fighting, separation and final triumph; and it is implied that it is composed in Sanskrit. The Kathā, according to him, contains no vaktra and aparavaktra verses, and no ucchvāsa division; the story is narrated not by the hero but by some others; and its language may be Sanskrit or Apabhramsa.
Dandin (Kāvyādarśa' i. 23-28), on the other hand, does not admit any of these distinctions between Ākhyāyikā and Katha, and all that he says is practically a negative and destructive criticism.
According to Rudrața (Kävyälarkāra’ xvi. 20-27, c. 9th century A.D.), the (Maha.) Kathā contains an introductory salutation in verse to the devas and gurus, followed by a succinct account of the author's family and the motive of his authorship; the plot of it including puravarnana etc. is to be composed in prose of light alliterative words; at the beginning there is a kathāntara which immediately introduces the main story on hand; the object of it is the winning of a girl, the sentiment of love properly and fully pervading it; it is composed in Sanskrit prose; and it is written in verse in any other language. The Akhyāyikā, according to him, opens with salutations (in verse) to devas and gurus; there is a praise of older poets in humiliation; then follows a plain statement of the author's motive which may be his devotion to a particular king, his habit of praising others
its, or something else; the story is to be written in the manner of a
ā, with an account about his family and about himself, in prose and not in verse; the division of ucсhvāsas is admitted with two āryā verses at the beginning of each chapter, excepting the first.
Bhāmaha is one of the earliest poeticians, and it is interesting to note that he has in view Kathas written in Apabhramsa. It is not unlikely that he is using the term Apabhramsa in a wider sense like a grammarian, with whom, as Dandin says, Apabhramsa stands for all (Prakritic) langua.
1 Ed. S. K. Belvalkar and R. B. Raddi, see especially the notes. 2 Kävyamala ed. with Namisadhu's commentary, Bombay 1928. 3 Namisādhu remarks thus: 34 reda ut pufai a f
गाथाभिः प्रभूतं कुर्यात्।
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