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"KAVI PUTRA" OF KALIDASA-1 A Critical Review
Sudarshan Kumar Sharma
In the Prologue to his play Malavikagnimitram Kalidasa has referred to his illustrious forerunners in the line
"Prathitayasasam Bhasa-Kaviputra-Saumillakādinām prabandhānativarttamanaKaveḥ Kalidasasya kriyayam katham parisado
kramya bahumānaḥ"3
The Sahitya Akadami edition has the compound- BhasaSaumilla-Kaviputrādinām" varying in the reversal of "KaviputraSaumillakadınām” as "SaumillaKaviputrādinām." Dr. Reva Prasada Dwivedi and C. H. Tawneys follow this reading while P.S Sane and G.H. Godbole" follow MR. Kale's text. The two compounds dissolved-Bhasaḥ sa eva kaviḥ tasya putraḥ Saumillakaḥ-tāvevadau yeṣam teṣam, Bhasakaviputra-Saumillakadinâm"
"Bhasaḥ Kaviptrah Samillakaś ca" BhasaKaviputra Saumillakaḥ ta evadau yeṣām teṣām.
And
Bhasah Saumillaka eva Kavis tasya putraḥ ta evadau yeṣām teṣāmBhasaSaumillaKaviputiānam or Bhasa-Saumilla-Kaviputras ta evadau yeṣām teśam i.e. Bhasaḥ Saumillah Kaviputras ca adau yeṣām teśām. i.e. Bhasa the poet and his son- the two head those and others.
Or
Bhasa, Kaviputra and Saumillaka the three head those and others Ог Bhasa and Saumilla the poet and his son head those and others. Or
Bhasa and Saumilla and Kaviputra the three head those and others Or
Bhasa and Saumilla and the son of Kavi the three head those and others their prabandhas; the poet calls himself as 'Varttamana Kaviḥ" the Poet of the present age, obviously the two Bhasa the poet and his son
