________________
32.
Prakrit. Verses in Sanskrit Works on Poetics
RudrataS9 quotes some of his own Prakrit verses in his Kávyālamkāra. It is Anandavardhana60 who, for the first time, sets the tradition of freely quoting Prakrit verses. He quotes some forty five, a few of his own composition, and others from well-known works, to illustrate various types of Dhvani, Alamkāras, etc. Abhinavagupta, his celebrated commentator follows his lead in his Locana. Dhanika, the well-known commentator of Dasarūpaka quotes some 26 Prakrit verses in his Avaloka. The distinction of quoting hundreds of Prakrit verses in his Sarasvatīkanthābharana and Smgäraprakāśa however, goes to Bhoja. The first work contains over 350 and the second, about 1650 Prakrit verses. Among other reputed Alankärikas, we find Kuntaka, Mahimabhatta, Mammata, Ruyyaka, and his commentator, Jayaratha, Hemacandra, Sobhākara and Viśvanātha quote 15, 28, 64, 15, 38, 80, 163 and 23 Prakrit verses respectively. Some of these are reproduced from Dhvanyaloka and Locana. A large number of verses cited by Bhoja in his two treatises are repetitions.
10. No Separate Work On Prakrit Poetics :
In the History of Prakrit Literature we come across works on Prakrit Grammar, Prakrit Metrics, Prakrit Lexicons, but not on Prakrit Poetics. In his Index of authors and works on Sanskrit Poetics to The History of Sanskrit Poetics, P.V. Kane refers to a solitary work Alamkaradarpana (anonymous) in Prakrit, consisting of 134 ślokas (to be precise, gåthas) treating of poetic figures. Catalogue of Sanskrit And Prakrit Manuscripts, Jesalmer Collection gives a description of a manuscript of this work
59) Kavyalamkāra IV. 11-15, 17-21 60) Dhvanyāloka. 61) Incidentally, it may be noted that Bhoja's classification of Prakrit and Apabhramsa languages is unique. It may be shown in a tabular form as follows:
Prakrit Sahaja Lakṣita
Ślista Sanskrit-sama Deśya Māhārāştra Saurasena Paišāca Māgadha
Apabhramsa
Uttama Madhyama
Kaniştha Āvantya Lāļīya (etc.) Abhira Gaurjara (etc.) Kāśmīra Paurastya (etc.) 62) Compiled by Munishri Punyavijayaji, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad-9
(Serial No. 326-2,p.138).
