Kuntaka’s evaluation of Sanskrit literature
by Nikitha. M | 2018 | 72,578 words
This page relates ‘Raghavananda in Kuntaka’s treatment’ of the study on the evaluation of Sanskrit literature with special reference to Kuntaka and his Vakroktijivitam from the 10th century CE. This study reveals the relevance of Sanskrit poetics in the present time and also affirms that English poetry bears striking features like six figurativeness taught by Kuntaka in his Vakroktijivita, in which he propounds the vakrokti school of Sanskrit literary criticism.
11. Rāghavānanda in Kuntaka’s treatment
There is not much information about this play. Other rhetoricians like Mammaṭa, Bhoja, Abhinavagupta etc. also cite the same verse in their works. The anthology named Saduktikarṇāmṛta ascribed this verse to Viśākhadatta. If Viśākhadatta, the author of Mudrārākṣasa is also the author of Rāgavānanda or the ‘Joy of Rāghava’, it was written before 9th or 10th century C.E.
Citation of Bhoja and Abhinavagupta also prompt us to surmise that it was written before 10th century C.E. Kuntaka cites a single verse from it.
It is as follows:-
rāmo'sau bhuvaneṣu vikramaguṇaiḥ prāptaḥ prasiddhim parāmasmad bhāgyaviparyayādyadi param devo na jānāti tam/
vandīvaiṣa yaśāṃsi gāyati marudasyekabāṇāhatiśreṇībhūtaviśālatālavivarodgīrṇaiḥ svaraiḥ saptabhiḥ//[1]“This is Rāma, so famous in the worlds for his heroic feats, though his majesty (Rāvaṇa) is not aware of him by our misfortune! Here is the wind-god himself singing his glory like a bard, with all the seven notes produced while passing out of the hollows of the row of giant Tāla trees struck by a single shot of his.”[2]
Kuntaka cites it as an example of conventional word, one of the varieties of lexical figurativeness. Here the word Rāma does not merely indicate the name of a king of Ayodhyā but it suggestively indicates an extraordinary heroism done by him. This is equal to the arthāntarasaṃkramitavācyadhvani of Ānandavardhana.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
K. Krishnamoorthy, op.cit,p.27.
[2]:
ibid,p.314.