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The Gunas are thus the features which go to make up the best poem. It is almost a statement of the criticism of the work as a whole. Sabdagunas are the physical or formal features. Arthaguņas pertain to the content and the theme. The Ubhayagunas embrace both of the Sabdaguņas two deal with size. The Mahākāvya must be sufficiently long (Asamkṣiptagranthatvam). But the Sargas should not be tediously long (Anativistirṇasargatva). Aviṣamabandhatva is explained as causing delight to the reader's mind. Hemachandra omits Aśravyavṛttatva, But the Ubhayaguṇa Arthānurūpachhandastvam takes care of it. The metre should be suggestive of the Rasa. Bhoja's Ślistasandhitva is slightly modified by Hemachandra who has Parasparasambaddhasargaditvam i.e., the cantos must run into each other and fit in. The Arthagunas emphasize the essence of the Mahākāvya, the hero, his greatness, development of Rasa and the philosophical purpose of poetry viz. fourfold end of life. The epic is heroic, has one dominant Rasa with all sentiments helping it. The fourth Arthaguna deals with the social advice or the moral of a poem or the poetic justice. The last Arthaguna viz. Susutrasaṁndhanakatva refers to wellknitness of the work as a whole. Thus it is a general guna.
The Ubhayagunas relate to both sabda and Artha. The relate Sabda and Artha with each other and lay emphasis on certain principles of harmony and appropriateness, Aucityā. Thus Rasanurūpasandarbhatva means perfect harmony of words and ideas with Rasa. This implies propriety of Vṛtti and Riti. Hemachandra omits Pātrānurupabhāvatva because it relates to a drama. We have explained the propriety of metre. The guna of Samastalokarañjakatva refer to Ananda, the primary aim of Art, which is aesthetic bliss. The last Sudalaṁkāravākyatva means that mere gunas are not enough, but Alamkaras are equally essential in a Kavya. This takes us to the topic of the Prabandhalaṁkāras.
It will be seen that the novel name under which the above gunas are given, does not alter the fact that they are features
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