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No. I. ]
NAYAKUMARACARIU,
17
vicious horse, of the feast given by Vanaraja, of the resolve of Arivarma's warriors, of the arrows of Sukantha and those of Nagakumara, of the bunyan tree and of the water jars used for the coronation. These and many other passages exercise the mind as well as entertain it by exhibiting all the elegance and ornamentation of artificial poetry. In fact the work, as a whole, is teeming with sweet alliterations, appropriate and striking paronomasia and delightful fancies. These the poet has well succeeded in combining with swift and easy narrative. The story is meant to illustrate the fruit of a religious fast but it has been told in the grand manner of a kāvya. The poet has rightly invoked the goddess Speech" Moving in the mention of a mahākavya, resplendent with her double ornaments, taking soft, sportive padas with multifold blandishments and feelings, giving delight by commendable sense, combining all arts and sciences and exalted characterstics, moving by the broad metreroad, bearing the ten qualities, sprinkled over with the nine sentiments and beautified by the three vigrahas." By mentioning the ten prānas the 'poet has revealed his acquaintence with the works of Bhamaha and Daodi in the body of the work the poet, by means of some stray similes, has told us what he considered to be the essentials of good poetry. A great poet would compose a sentimental kavya in mātrā metre, a good kāvya requires a choice of brilliant forms and phrases, a good poet pays attention to the style of language, a poet graces himself by means of a story well told and shorn of ornamentation is the story of · a quack poet.'
The conclusion to which we are led by these references is that the poet's statement that he knew nothing of the works of the prominent writers of yore is a mere modesty as also his statement in the present work that he was unable to describe things being a dull poet, and that his titles of inahákavi, vagesvari.devi-niketa and kavya-pisāca stand amply justified. *
* This work has been published with an exhausti ve introduction, glossary, indices and notes as the first volume of the Devendrakirti Jaina Series, Karanja.
