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General Editor's Preface
Anandavardhana is the first of the Sanskrit writers on poetics to quote by way of illustrations, in his epoch-making work, Dhvanyaloka, verses in Prakrit language to explain dhvani alamkāra, bhava, rusa, etc. This tradition was followed by later critics and the unique distinction of citing over two thousand passages goes to Bhoja, the author of Srngaraprakasa and Sarasvatikanthabharana
Ruyyaka's Sāhitya-Mimāṁsā, Sobhākara's Alamkāra-Ratnākara, Visvesvara's Alamkāra-Kaustubha contain over a hundred Prakrit verses each. The text of the Prakrit and Apabhramsa verses is, in many places corrupt, shows small or big gaps and in some cases it is obscure and unintelligible. As the Prakrit text is carelessly transcribed in the manuscripts it falls to the editors of these works to present these Prakrit and Apabhramsa verses as correctly as possible, by tracing them to their sources or by referring to other works on Poetics Prosody or Grammar, wherever they are quoted. It is a fact, however, that in spite of the best efforts by the editors, a very large number of these verses still remain obscure-as their sources are irretrievably lost and as they do not appear to have been cited elsewhere. Works like Srngāraprakāśa, Sahitya- Mimamsā and Alamkāra- Ratnākara have been rather defectively edited and consequently these works, especially their portions dealing with Prakrit and Apabhraṁsa passages, have become the despair of scholars.
A critical edition of the Prakrit verses in works on Sanskrit Poetics was a long felt need. The editor of this volume has made an earnest attempt in this direction. It is for the scholars in the field to judge how far he has succeeded in his arduous task. Volume II containing Introduction, Translation, Critical and Comparative Notes and Glossary of Notable Words is soon to be published. It is hoped that the scholars interested in Sanskrit and Prakrit Poetry find this study useful and stimulating.
General Editor
