Kavyamimamsa of Rajasekhara (Study)

by Debabrata Barai | 2014 | 105,667 words

This page relates ‘Works of Rajashekhara’ of the 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 10 - Works of Rājaśekhara

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Rājaśekhara was a prolific writer^[1]. He was not only a poet but also a dramatist and well known critic. He seems to have been proficient in many languages i.e. Sanskrit and Prākṛta, which he used in his works.

In the prologue of his Mahānāṭaka Bālarāmāyaṇa, Rājaśekhara describe himself as the author of six works. C.f.

“yadyasti svasti tubhyaṃ bhava paṭhanarūcirviddhi naḥ ṣaṭ prabandhānaivaṃ
ceddīrghamāstāṃ naṭabaṭuvadane jarjarā kāvyakathā || ”

- Bālarāmāyaṇa of Rājaśekhara: I/ 12

Among them only five works are found in this time. The four plays are:

Karpūramañjarī,
Viddhaśālabhañjikā,
Bālarāmāyaṇa and
Bālabhārata.

Hemacandra, the author of Kāvyānuśāsana (of Hemacandra), mentioned a Kāvya (poem) ‘Haravilāsa’ was written by Rājaśekhara and his Magnum-opus poetical work Kāvyamīmāṃsā. Keith^[2] suggests that, Rājaśekhara also wrote two other Nāṭikās, which was not included. Kṛṣṇamācāriar [Krishnamacariar] ascribes the authorship of Ratnamañjarī to Rājaśekhara, which is also not available now^[3]. In the Kāvyamīmāṃsā the author himself refers to his own works Haravilāsa and Bhūvanakośa. Yet they are not getting, only some laudatory verses can be seen in Subhāsitāvalī and Sūktimuktāvalī.

In his own refers six works ‘ṣaṭ prabandhān’ he uses six different languages i.e. Sanskrit, three Prākṛta (Mahārāṣṭri, Śauraseni, Māgadhī), Apabhraṃśa and Paiśācī. C.f.

“giraḥ śravyā divyāḥ prakṛtimadhurāḥ prākṛtadhurāḥ
subhavyo'pabhraṃśa sarasaracanaṃ bhūtavacanam |
vibhinnāḥ panthānaḥ kimapi kamanīyāśca ta ime
nibandhā yastveṣāṃ sa khalu nikhile'smin kavivṛṣā || ”

- Bālarāmāyaṇa of Rājaśekhara: I/ 11^[4]

Here it is seems that he possibly wrote six works before composing Bālarāmāyaṇa . Thus if we added the two work Haravilāsa and Bhūvanakośa so it is becomes to six in number. But there are some controversy about the Bālarāmāyaṇa is Rājaśekhara’s last composition.