Kavyamimamsa of Rajasekhara (Study)
by Debabrata Barai | 2014 | 105,667 words
This page relates ‘Citramimamsa, Kuvalayananda and Vrittavartika of Appayadikshita’ 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 16 - Citramīmāṃsā, Kuvalayānanda and Vṛttavārtika of Appayadīkṣita
[Post-Dhvani Theory of Sanskrit Poetics (9): Citramīmāṃsā, Kuvalayānanda and Vṛttavārtika of Appayadīkṣita (16th century A.D.)]
South Indian polymath Appayadīkṣīta was a great writer on Sanskrit literary criticism and philosophy. However he is known to have written hundred books[1], but his three contributions of Indian poetics are–Vṛttavārtika, Kuvalayānanda and Citramīmāṃsā. In the Vṛttavārtika he has discusses about the word and meaning. The Kuvalayānanda is the elementary work on Alaṃkāraśāstra which is dealt with various Alaṃkāras and in the history of Sanskrit poetics Kuvalayānanda is the only work where largest number of Alaṃkāras (poetic figures) have been treated. It have seems that it is based on the Joydeva’s Candrāloka, where he profusely borrowed from the latter. The famous incomplete work Citramīmāṃsā discusses about the division of kāvya (poetry) with the treatment of few figures of speech.
Following the footsteps of Dhvanikāra Ānandavardhana, Appayadikṣīta classified kāvya (poetry) into three types–Dhvani kāvya, Gunībhūtavyaṅgya kāvya and Citra kāvya, then he enunciates definitions of each of them. In the view of Dhvanikāvya, Appayadīkṣita stated the suggested excels.
From the study of Appaydīkṣita’s three poetical works we found on noteworthy feature that from the standpoint of originality they have little merit. But there he has given the elaborate treatment of the largest number of poetic figures and tried to gives some new lights of thought on some vexed problem of Sanskrit poetics. Lastly we can say that his all poetical works are elementary text-books where he integrated in a systematic manner the speculation of his ancient Sanskrit poeticians.