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सवृत्तिकः कविदर्पणः
INTRODUCTION
Jayasimha (2.54, p. 21), King Siddharāja Jayasimha (2.53, p. 21) and King Kumārapāla (2.55, p. 21). The commentator thus does not appear to be very far removed from the times of the author of the text.
5. The author of the Kavidarpana composes his illustrations like Hemacandra as a general rule and introduces the name of the metre in the illustration itself by means of the usual device of Mudrā. His main aim was to compose a practical guide in respect of metres, particularly those in the Prakrit and the Apabhramśa languages, which are usually employed by the popular bards. Accordingly, he has expended great care on the second chapter which deals with the Mātrā Vịttas, whether single or strophic, composed in the Prakrit or the Apabhramśa languages. In this chapter he employs the Gathā metre for his definitions which he composes in the Prakrit language throughout; but he gives separate and full illustrations of all the metres defined by him, composing them in the language to which the metre belongs. He himself is, of course, silent about the language to which the metre belongs, unlike Hemacandra who has classified metres according to the language in which they are generally composed and employed, assigning a separate chapter to the Apabhramsa metres which begin with Utsäha. Hemacandra composes his definitions in the Sanskrit language, throughout his work, in the form of Sūtras accompanied by a brief commentary, which, too, is written in Sanskrit. But his full illustrations are composed in the respective languages to which the metres belong. Our commentator certainly knows this division of metres according to the language adopted by Hemacandra, as is clear from his remarks on the quotations from Svayambhuchandas on Yati, at the end of his commentary on v. 8 in chapter I on p. 6. But the author of the Kavidarpaņa does not follow Hemacandra in this respect and classifies the metres under three heads in accordance with the unit of scansion, namely, a Varņa, a Mātrā or both, that underlies their constitution. For this reason, we do not find a uniform use of the Prakrit language in the illustrations of metres defined in Chapter II, as we find it in the case of the following chapters which deal with the Varna Vșittas and the mixed Mātrā-Varna Vrttas. As his main interest was in the Prakrit and Apabhramsa metres, as said above, he does not give full illustrations of the Varņa and the Miśra Vịttas which are generally found in the Sanskrit language and which are defined in the later chapters of the Kavidarpana. In the case of these latter, the definition itself serves as the illustration and the definition is given in a single line in the case of the Sama Catuspadis, in two lines in that of the Ardhasama Catuspadis
