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Anekasandhānakāvya
Dr. Ashok Kumar Singh*
Aneka means many, much and Sandhāna is joining, uniting. In fact, joining or uniting of many meanings in a single composition is Anekasandhānakāvya. The richness and multiplicity of word meanings as well as the long compound formation worth split in many ways, is one of the salient features of Sanskrit language. A genre of composition, employing this varied richness of Sanskrit, fusing more than one story in its structural pattern, is Anekasandhānakāvya or composition. The minimal stories woven in this form of literature are two, known as Dvisandhānakāvyaor the poem of double entendre. Sandhāna works are invariably in Sanskrit in Vedic tradition, while a few Prakrit gāthas with multiple meanings are also available, besides Sanskrit works, in Jaina tradition. The Dvisandhāna by Ācārya Dandin (7th cent. A.D.), mentioned in Śrngäraprakāśa of Bhojadeva (fl. c. 1000-1055) not available today, is the earliest work, of this form. Among the extant works in this tradition, the Rāghavapāndaviya (1173 AD), depicting the two stories of the Rāmāyana and Mahābhārat, through the same word collocation by Kavirāja may be treated as the earliest. Jaina work Dvisandhānakávya of Dhanañjaya (9th cent. A.D.) may be treated as the first available work of this genre in both the traditions i.e. Vedic and Jaina. The other prominent Sandhāna works of Vedic tradition are: Pārvatīraukmaņiya (1126 AD) by Vidyāmādhava, Rasikarañjana (Srngāra-Vairāgya) (1467 AD) of Ramacandra, Krsna-Vilomakāvya (1485 AD) of Süryakavi, Rāghavayādavapāņdaviyaand Pañcakalyāņacampū (1529 AD) by puet Cidambara, Yadavarāghaviya by Venkatādhvari (17th cent. AD) and Rāghavanaisadhiya of Haradatta (18th cent. AD). Besides, Vedic tradition is also enriched by some undated Sandhāna works viz. four works with the same title, Rāghavayādaviyaof Someśvara, Raghunāthācārya, Śrīnivāsācārya and
*
Parshwanath Vidyapeeth, Varanasi.
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