Sambodhi 1979 Vol 08

SR No.: 520758
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1979
Total Pages: 392
Language: English, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gujarati
Classification: Magazine, India_Sambodhi, & India
File Size: 8 MB

Page 88

Ašvaghoşa's Kavyas ; An Alankarika Appraisa
The cream of the nirvāṇa-inārga as preached by Aśvaghoşa appears to be an improvement upon the pro-Vedānta Sāmkhya-Yoga dhyāpa-process which we find recorded in the Maha-Bhārata. This psychological process of bodhi-citta-samutthāna aims at eliminating in the prati-loma -krama all the non-ātman alambanas (=āyatanas) and finally the Parmătman (=Puruşöttama) and even the jñāna pertaining thereto. So says Aśvaghosa :
saśisyah Kapilaś ceha Pratibuddha iti smộtah
[Buddha-carita, 12/21ab] The term "Pratibuddha" is used to include both Akşara-Puruşa (=Kşetrajña=jña) and Purusottama (=prājña=Kapila).
śrutam jñānam idam sūksmam paratah paratah sivam/ Kșetrajñasyā “parityāgād avaimy etad ana işthikan /
[Buddha-carita, 12/691 paratah paratas tyāgo yasmat tu gunavān smộtah / tasmāt sarva-parityāgan manye kştsnām kptårthatām //
(Buddha-carita, 12/82] It is a pity that excepting several minor citations and adaptations of grammatical, lexicographical and general interests from Ašvaghoṣa in various later works not a single quotation of strictly doctrinal nature from any of his four nirvāņa-kāvyas with or without the mention of his name has been traced as yet in any later work on Buddhist philosophy. This fact is significant enough to prove that his doctrinal interpretation lacks the lustre of originality.
So it must b: admitted on all hands that the kavi in Asvaghoşa far outshines the philosopher in him. He is a kavi by nature but preacher by mission. His contribution to Buddhism in the role of a philosopher pales into insignificance beside his legacy to the Classical Sanskrit literature in the part of a poet and a dramatist.
That his adoption of the kanta-sammita ornate method of popular preaching is in keeping with his milieu is countenanced by the literary compositions of the Mahā-yāna-oriented missionary kavis about the beginning of the Christian era like Mātņceļa's Śata-pāñcāśaka-stotra, Kumāralāta's Drsantapankti and Arya-Śūra's Jataka-mālā. This tendency in kāvya corresponds to the similar trend in other forms of art of the same period.
In pursuance of the Zeitgeist of the transitional stage between the late Hina-yāna and the early Maha--yāna Aśvaghoșa does not ignore the poetic and dramatic conventions prevalent in his time and obviously sanctioned