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RAJASEKHARA ON ROLE OF TRADITION IN THE
MAKING OF A POET
Ram Prakash Poddar
In the opinion of Rajasekhara, no one can be a poet in isolation, One has to belong to the tradition of one's land and literature to become a poet in the real sense of the the term. One may vent one's emotions and thereby get the satisfaction of self-expression, one may compose verses in ornate style and feel proud of one's compositional skill, but to become a poet of the society or the nation, one will have to come out of one's individual cocoon and belong to the traditions of one's society and nation. A poet obsessed with idcosyncrasies can not be universally accepted. For this he will have to transcend his subjective barriers. Rājasekhara has hinted at this fact in the poetic duel between Vicaksana and the jester in the Karpūramañjari. The verse composed by the jester runs as follows :Phullukkaram kalamakurasam vahanti
Je sindhuvāra vidavā maha vallha te / Je galiassa mahist-dabigo sariccbā
Te kiica mudhaviailla pasūņa punja // (I. 18) Commenting on this verse Vicakşaņā says to the jester-'niakantarattanajoggam te va anam'-'your words are such as your own beloved (wife) alone can take delight in them, none else.' The jester is very fond of rice and curd. So for him these can express to an advantage the charm of the Sindhuvara and Vicakila flowers. The latter being universally accepted as beautiful and the former (rice and curd) not being so, the latter suffer a set back by comparison with the former. It is said that once a poct, like the jester of Karpuramaõjari, approached King Bhoja and wanted to please him with their verse-'Bhojanaṁ dehi Rājendra ghrtasūpasamanvitam /. This was enough to displease the king till Kalidasa intervened and said that the other line was-Mcâhişam ca saraccandracandrikāsarisaṁ dadhi //' which of course had its appeal. Here we have an example of an object of limited appeal being compared with one of universal appeal and thereby made universally acceptable. On the contrary in the jester's verse things of universal appeal are dwarfed by being compared with those of limited appeal.
The verse that Vicakşapp reads as reply to the jegter runs as
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