Vasudevavijaya of Vasudeva (Study)
by Sajitha. A | 2018 | 50,171 words
This page relates ‘Mode of illustration’ of the study on the Vasudevavijaya of Vasudeva from the 11th century A.D. The Vasudevavijayam is an educational poem belonging to the Shastra-Kavya category of technical Sanskrit literature. The Vasudevavijayam depicts in 657 verses the story of Lord Krishna while also elucidates the grammatical rules of the Ashtadhyayi of Panini (teaching the science of grammar). The subject-content of the poem was taken from the tenth Skandha of the Bhagavatapurana.
Mode of illustration
[Full title: Importance of Vāsudevavijaya among Keralite Vyākaraṇaśāstrakāvyas (3): Mode of illustration]
It is already stated that the mode of illustration of Vāsudevavijaya is different from any other works. The illustration is made by dividing the whole Pāṇinīya into four sections i.e. first and second chapters form the first section, third chapter forms the second, fourth and fifth chapters form the third and the remaining chapters deals within the fourth section. Vāsudeva illustrates the rules from each section and incorporate them in a single verse. Then the following verses hold their respective order in the Aṣṭādhyāyī.
This peculiar mode of illustration of rules gives a prominent place to Vāsudevavijaya Other works illustrate the rules by using twenty or more cantos while Vāsudevavijaya takes only seven cantos to incorporate the examples for almost all rules of Pāṇini. The new method of illustration helps to reduce the length of the poem and it pave the way to attract more readers into it. The readers can learn the rules and their illustrations with a few verses. Thus acquiring more rules with less effort is one of the major characteristics of Vāsudevavijaya among other Vyākaraṇaśāstrakāvyas.