Kavyamimamsa of Rajasekhara (Study)
by Debabrata Barai | 2014 | 105,667 words
This page relates ‘Poetic conventions regarding to the Lakshmi’ 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 7.17 - Poetic conventions regarding to the Lakṣmī
In poetic conventions there are two different types convention is related to the Lakṣmī:—
- The abode of Lakṣmī is Lotus flower and
- The identity of Lakṣmī with wealth.
(i) In poetic convention the poets describe the lotus as the abode of Lakṣmī but Rājaśekhara doesn’t agree about this convention.
In the Raghuvaṃśa says that:
“śriyaḥ padmaniṣaṇṇāyāḥ kṣaumāntaritamekhale |
aṅke nikṣiptacaraṇamāstīrṇakarapallave || ”- Raghuvaṃśa of Kālidāsa: Canto-X/ 8
In this śloka describe that the Lakṣmī is seated on lotus and in other works also says:
“lakṣmīnivāsa iti vāriruhāṃ prasiddhiranveṣitaḥ katipaya varatrāstu santi |
rāñjī prasāritakare kimahaṃ dadāmi saṅku citaṃ vadanamaṃvuruैharitībhaḥ || ”- Subhāṣitaratnabhāṇḍāgāra: Pp-256
Here both of the śloka describe the lotus is the abode of Lakṣmī.
(ii) In this type convention the word Lakṣmī and wealth or Sampada is to indicate one and the same thing.
In the Kāvyamīmāṃsā illustrate it as:
“dermandī (nde)ritamandare ṇa jaladherutthāpitā yā svayaṃ
yāṃ bhūtvā kamaṭhaḥ purāṇakaku danyastāmudastambhayat |
tāṃ lakṣmīṃ puruṣottamaḥ punarasau līlāñcitabhtrūlatānirdeśauḥ
samavīśarpraṇayināṃ geheṣu doṣṇi kṣitim || ”- Kāvyamīmāṃsā of Rājaśekhara: Ch-XVI, Pp- 88
Here in this śloka the word Lakṣmī denoted both Goddess Lakṣmī evolved from ocean and wealth also.