Kavyanushasana Critical Study

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

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What strikes us most about this series of the Anušāsana works is the inter-connection between the different Anuśāsanas. Thus, while the Sabdānu sāsana, his magnum opus, is his first important scientific work on Grammar or Sabda, the Kāvyānušāsana is his second comprehensive and authoritative scientific treatise on Kāvyaśāstra or Poetics. The inter-connection between these two works, apart from the identity of authorship, is that, while the first Anuśāsana deals with the topic of "correct speech", the second one, i.e., the Kavyānuśāsana, deals with the poetic aspect of the "correct speech", i.e. Poetics. In fact, Hemachandra himself points out this inter-connection when he says (K.A.S. 1.2) : "The correct speech was discussed by us in the sabdānušāsana; now its poetic aspect is being laid down by us in its correct form." In the first verse of his Chando'nuśāsana too he states that having completed sabda-Kavya-Anusāsanas, he now speaks of the Anu śāsana of the Chandas or metres useful for poetry.3 Of these three Anušāsanas, while the first one viz. the Sabdanuśasana (the science of language) was written at the request of Siddharāja Jayasimha, the other two Anušāsanas were significantly meant for the people in general or as the introductory verse divulges Hemachandra's aim, the Kāvyānušāsana was composed to delight 'the learned ones'.
The काव्यानुशासन : A Brief Introduction
The Kavyānuśāsana, as the title suggests, is a work on the science of Poetry or Poetics. It is a comprehensive treatise on all the different aspects of poetry. Within the space of eight chapters and two hundred and eight Sūtras or aphorisms, it deals not only with all the important topics connected with the creation and appreciation of Poetry, but also with the different types of heroes and heroines, the themes and forms and other aspects of dramatic and poetic compositions. Thus it is an authoritative and extensive work on Indian Poetics in its many aspects. In the history and field of Sanskrit Poetics, therefore, the Kavyānuśāsana should rank side by side with