Sahitya-kaumudi by Baladeva Vidyabhushana

by Gaurapada Dāsa | 2015 | 234,703 words

Baladeva Vidyabhusana’s Sahitya-kaumudi covers all aspects of poetical theory except the topic of dramaturgy. All the definitions of poetical concepts are taken from Mammata’s Kavya-prakasha, the most authoritative work on Sanskrit poetical rhetoric. Baladeva Vidyabhushana added the eleventh chapter, where he expounds additional ornaments from Visv...

व्याख्यातम् इदं सम्पूर्णं काव्य-लक्षणम्.

vyākhyātam idaṃ sampūrṇaṃ kāvya-lakṣaṇam.

The characteristics of poetry have been explained in full.

mammaṭādy-uktim āśritya mitāṃ sāhitya-kaumudīm |
vṛttiṃ bharata-sūtrāṇāṃ śrī-vidyābhūṣaṇo vyadhāt ||

Taking support of the statements of Mammaṭa and of others, Śrī Vidyābhūṣaṇa composed a moderately short elaboration, called Sāhitya-kaumudī, on Bharata’s sūtras.

Commentary:

Poetry has two varieties: dramaturgy (dṛśya-kāvya) and poetry in book form (śravya-kāvya). Dramaturgy is expounded in Daśa-rūpaka, Sāhitya-darpaṇa, Nāṭaka-candrikā, and so on.

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