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Review
In his Introduction, Krishnamoorthy has brought out Kuntaka's originality of ideas and keen ness of perception. He has ably defended Kuntaka against the criticisms of several modern scholars and has removed several misconceptions regarding Kuntaka's ideas and views. One can fully agree with his following observations : 'Kuntaka indeed is the only writer who attempted this task of literary analysis, critical appreciation and appraisal from a total perspective, of almost all the major poets and playwrights in Classical Sanskrit literature (p. XXXVI)'. ...as a literary critic in the true sense of the term, Kuntaka, stands unrivalled. He was a very sensitivo critic with genuine literary taste. His literary criticism itself often rises to the level of good literature. Kuntaka is indeed peerless in his aesthetic sensibility which animates the whole of his work and makes it full of interest to one and all interested in pure literary criticism. Kuntaka appears thus as a true sucessor of Anandavardhana, giving a new orientation to literary study itself' (p. XXXVI).
The plates and indices add to the value of the work. The present work will go a long way in rehabilitating Kuntaka as a critic and theorist, unrivalled in literary sensitivity, perception and range. Krishnamoorthy deserves to be highly thanked by all students of Sanskrit literary criticism and Indian aesthetics.
H. C. Bhayani
Nägärjuna's Letter to King Gautamiputra. (trans. by ven, Lozang Jamspal, ven. NIS. Chopel and P. D. Santina); pub. by Motilal Banarasidas, Delhi; 1958; demi Octavo, pp. xxii+118; Rs. 35/
The work under review is an English translation of Nagārjuna's Suhrllekha translated into Tibetan by the Indian Abbot Sarvajnadeva in collaboration with a Tibetan redactor and published in Varanasi in 1971.
Acharya Nagarjuna is one of the greatest expounders of Buddhist philosophy. He was born in South India. He was a student of Rāhulbhadra, the abbot of the Nalanda University in Magadha. He had friendly relations with Gautamiputra Śātakarņi, the Satavahana King of the Deccan, whose reign is generally dated in the first quarter of the 2nd cent. A.D. but in light of the recently discovered Kutch inscriptions of Cāştana, it must now be dated in the third quarter of the 1st cent. A.D. Nāgārjuna seems to have spent the latter part of his life at the monastery built for him by this royal friend at Sriparvata. He was an accomplished master of the Buddhist doctrine. He wrote volumiously on almost every aspect of Buddhist
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