Kavyanushasana Critical Study

Author(s): A N Upadhye
Publisher: A N Upadhye

Page 26

PRELUDE
The Kavyanusāsana of Acharya Hemachandra is an important work on Sanskrit Sahityaśastra, and is well known to scholars both in India and abroad. Hemachandracharya needs no introduction to the students of Indian Literature because, in the words of Prof. S. P. Bhattacharya, he "is known to the students of Sanskrit, Prakrit and Apabhramsa literatures as a writer who utilized to the full his extensive and varied scholarship in whatever department he worked and racorded what he thought worth recording for the benefit of posterity". Hemachandracharya's versatility and encyclopaedic knowledge embraced many fields of Sanskrit and Prakrit learning and in the galaxy of Jain writers, Hemachandra is the "brightest star", having been a voluminous writer who wrote on numerous branches of study. 2 His prolific writings includs works on a variety of important subjects ranging from Grammar, Lexicography, Prosody, Poetics and Dramaturgy to Philosophy, Logic, Biography, Psychology as well as several poetical or creative-narrative works.
Among the scientific works of Hemachandra, his Anuśāsana Sabdanusāsana, series - the the Kavyanuśāsana and the Chando'nusasana - deserves special mention. In writing this series, Hemachandra's aim appears to have been to provide excellent authoritative works on such subjects as Grammar, Poetics and Prosody for the students of Sanskrit Composition.
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