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V. Raghavan observes : "The meaning of 'Paryāya', which constitutes an enlargement of 'pari and is taken as the differentia of this type of kathā, is different in Bhoja and Abhinavagupta. One thing is common to both and that is that the parikatha is a series of stories."
Regarding its language Abhinavagupta says in his Locana (111.7, p.324) that it may be in any language (Sanskrit, Prakrit or Apabhrams'a). Bhoja's commentator, Ratnes vara, however says in the course of his commentary (Sarasvati kanthābharana 11.17, v.6):
"खण्डकथाप(रि)कथादौ उत्तमादेरपि प्राकृतमेव ।
Incidentally, we may note that Namisādhu while commenting on Rudrata (Kavyalamkāra XVI.36,p.172, N.S.edn.) defines parikathā in a strikingly different way:
बहूनां छन्दसामेकवाक्यत्वे तद्वाक्यानां च समूहावस्थाने परिकथा । 8. Khandakathā :
In the history of Sanskrit poetics it is Rudrata (earlier part of the ninth century) who for the first time, gives description of the nature of a khandakathā: "It is a minor or short story. In it a happy hero meets with disaster. There are other characters in it like the Brāhmanas, servants and traders. The rasa that is depicted may be karuna, or pravăsas' rigăra or prathamānuraga - all of them of the vipralambha type. The story ends happily with the success of
the hero.18
Anandavardhana informs us that the khandakatha and the sakalakatha are wellknown in Prakrit literature and abound in kulakas (kulaka meaning a number of verses ranging from five to fifteen and the whole forming one sentence) thus suggesting that
18. कुर्यात् क्षुद्रे काव्ये खण्डकथायां च नायकं सुखिनम् ।
आपद्गतं च भूयो द्विजसेवकसार्थवाहादिम् ।। अत्रा रसं करुणं वा कुर्यादथवा प्रवासशृङ्गारम् । प्रथमानुरागमथवा पुनरन्ते नायकाभ्युदयम् ।।
-kävyālamkāra, XVI.33-34
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