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CCCXXVI
Kavyanusasana
question of the relative values of their respective contributions to the literature of Samskrta Poetics, the superiority of the great Kāvyaprakāşa of Mammaţa is undoubted. But I beg to differ from the learned Doctor in his opinion on their relative merits as text books.
What characterizes a good text book is its treatment of the subject matter. It should be so clear as to make it easy to grasp, so graded as to satisfy the needs of different grades of students, so systematic as to reveal the rational character of the subject matter, and it should be sufficiently exhaustive. Now the main thing that characterizes the Kāvyaprakāsa is its systematic and rational treatment of the subject. But Mammața has tried to be systematic at the cost of clearness. In fact the Kāvyaprakāşa is one of the most difficult Samskặta books and in spite of its proverbially innumerable commentaries, * it yet remains a hard nut to crack. In fact the Kāvyaprakása is a laconic work. In his effort to be systematic Mammata has forgotten that there are students less learned than he who are to study his book. The treatment of the subject in the K. P. as far as the essential nature of Kávya goes, is, no doubt, complete. But a student of Samsksta poetics will have to consult other works for the study of the different forms of Samskrta literature. This is another drawback. Judged from this point of view, the superiority of the Kavyanuşāsa na is, to my mind, undoubted. For, it possesses all the qualities of a good text book inentioned above. If we are asked to point out what is the one merit which the works of Hemachandra possesses above all, we should say that they are excellent text books.
* काव्यप्रकाशस्य कृता गृहे गृहे टीका तथाप्येष तथैव दुर्गमः ॥
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