Kavyamimamsa of Rajasekhara (Study)
by Debabrata Barai | 2014 | 105,667 words
This page relates ‘Kavyalamkara of Rudrata’ of the English study on the Kavyamimamsa of Rajasekhara: a poetical encyclopedia from the 9th century dealing with the ancient Indian science of poetics and rhetoric (also know as alankara-shastra). The Kavya-mimamsa is written in eighteen chapters representing an educational framework for the poet (kavi) and instructs him in the science of applied poetics for the sake of making literature and poetry (kavya).
Part 7 - Kāvyālaṃkāra of Rudraṭa
[Full title: Pre-dhvani theory of Sanskrit poetics (6): The Kāvyālaṃkāra of Rudraṭa (9th century A.D.)]
The Kāvyālaṃkāra (of Rudraṭa) of Rudraṭa, regarded as the last representative of Alaṃkāra School, divided into sixteen Addhāyas (chapters). Among them, ten long chapter of Kāvyālaṃkāra (of Rudraṭa) devotes to treatment of poetic figures.
As like as his predecessors, he also accepted that the combination of sound and sense constitute kāvya (poetry):
“nanu śavdārthau kāvyam |”
- Kāvyālaṃkāra (of Rudraṭa) of Rudraṭa: II/1
However, about the matter of Rīti (poetic diction) he goes a step further and declares four types of its varieties i.e. Pāñ cālī, Lātīya, Gauḍiya and Vaidarbhī. But he has not influenced by the Rītis chool, because he does not attach much importance to the Rīti or Guṇa in the matter of poetry.
To him, Pāñcālī is characterized by short, Lātiya by middling and Gauḍiya by long compounded words but in the Vaidarbhī, there is a complete absence of compounds:
“pāñcālī lāṭīya gauḍīya ceti nāmato'vihitāḥ |
laghu madhyāyata viracanā samāsabhedādimāṃsa tatra || ”- Kāvyālaṃkāra (of Rudraṭa) of Rudraṭa: II/ 4
“vṛttera'samāsāyā vaidarbhi rītirekaiva || ”
- Kāvyālaṃkāra (of Rudraṭa) of Rudraṭa: II/ 6
In poetic composition Rudraṭa always prefers Vaidarbhī rīti, because he thinks that compound is the only differentiating factor in poetic diction and it is related to sound only: samāsavatī vṛtti | Rudra ṭa’s this concepts again open a path for new criticism in Sanskrit Poetics. To him, the external beauty of poetic expression and observes that in poetic creation such words are to be chosen as would impart beauty to it:
“racayata tameva śavdam racanāyaḥ yaḥ karoti cārutvaṃ |”
- Kāvyālaṃkāra (of Rudraṭa) of Rudraṭa: II/ 8 & 9