Conclusions

Vāsudevavijaya is a Śāstrakāvya which illustrates the Paninian rules of Sanskrit grammar. It narrates the story of Kṛṣṇa and simultaneously illustrates the rules of Pāṇini. The poem brings out almost all rules in the Aṣṭādhyāyī except the Vedic rules.

A Thorough study of Vāsudevavijaya observes some valid points regarding the text. The first and prominent point is the order of illustration of rules. It is already stated that Vāsudeva himself divides the chapters of Aṣṭādhyāyī into four sections and he illustrates the rules from each of these sections. It is identified that after dividing the chapters of Aṣṭādhyāyī into four, Vāsudeva incorporates the illustrations for the first rule from each sections. Then he keeps the respective order of rules of Aṣṭādhyāyī in the further verses.

Another noteworthy point is the unique style of illustrating the rules helps to provide brevity and comprehensiveness. The Śāstrakāvyas like Bhaṭṭkāvya, Rāvaṇavadha, Subhadrāharaṇa etc. attain their aim of illustrating Paninian rules with about twenty or more cantos. At the same time Vāsudeva illustrates the whole Aṣṭādhyāyī by using 657 verses in seven cantos. It is possible due to the new style adopted by the author obviously it proves the proficiency of Vāsudeva to epitomize a vast field of Paninian rules into a limited number of verses. Similarly the author shows his skill to elucidate the rules of Pāṇinī comprehensively.

Prof.Vijayapal Sastri observes that Vāsudeva illustrates the Vārtikas, Uṇādis, Kārikās, Gaṇasūtras etc. along with the Paninian rules in the poem. This view can be accepted to an extent. It can be seen that the illustration of these Vārtikas etc. are not directly intended by the author. They do not possess any definiteness in their order. Some Vārtikas are included, but at the same time most of them are omitted. Probably the author does not intend to describe the Vārtikās, Uṇādis and so on. He only aims to bring forth the aphorisms of Pāṇini.

There are some rules which are excluded by the author from illustration. These may not be excluded intentionally. It is obvious that the effort of including examples for each and every rule is too strenuous. As it is a poetry which describes the story of Vāsudeva, it is impossible to afford all the rules. Thus it is not a limitation of the work.

Another fact regarding Vāsudevavijaya, is that it is not intended for the beginners in Sanskrit grammar. It seems that the one who learn the fundamental aspects of Sanskrit grammar can only enter into the poem they can practise or exercise the rules with the illustrations of this poem. Thus the poem enables the learned ones to know the differed application of the Paninian rules and it will be much befitting to the field of applied grammar.

Vāsudeva tries to incorporate complex and rare words as examples for the rules somewhere. Here the author definitely takes a painstaking effort to incorporate such words to his poem. Such a complex nature of the poem may lead him to compose a commentary by himself. It is seems that most of the Śāstrakāvyās were composed along with an auto-commentary. Thus it is essential to go through the commentary of such works in order to make out the line of thought of the author.

In the case of Vāsudevavijaya, Padacandrikā is the commentary given by the author. It is too much beneficial for the readers to understand the poem and also its grammatical aspects. Besides the impact of other disciplines also found in Vāsudevavijaya The fundamental aspects of Vedāṅgas, Dharmaśāstra, Philosophy etc. are incorporated by the author in the poem. At the same time, the references seen in the poem from other disciplines are elaborately discussed in the Padacandrikā commentary. Thus the proper understanding of such impact of other discipline can only be possible with the help of discussions made in the commentary.

In addition to these, verses from Bhāgavata are also quoted at some places in order to substantiate certain statements made by Vāsudeva. These quotations are seen in the commentary. In the same manner, the opinions of other grammarians such as Patañjalī, Jayāditya, Bhoja, Kṣīrasvāmin, Vidyāsāgara etc. are referred to in the poem. These opinions are well-discussed in the commentary. Hence the commentary is also befitting to get a comprehensive picture of the observations made by the author in the poem.

The references of other disciplines, such as Veda, Vedāṅga, Darśana, Smṛti etc. found both in the poem and its commentary definitely proves the scholarliness of Vāsudeva in those areas. Simultaneously from the quotations of Bhāgavatapurāṇa, it can be identified the expertise and interest of the author regarding this work. Another noteworthy fact is that the opinions of other grammarians such as Bhoja, Kṣīrasvāmin etc. observed in Vāsudevavijaya, throw light on the proficiency of Vāsudeva in the non-Paninian systems of Sanskrit grammar. Vāsudeva is mastered not only in the Paninian grammar but also in the other systems of grammar. Hence it seems that the awareness of Vāsudeva is not limited in the grammatical treatises but also in other branches of disciplines. Thus it can state that Vāsudeva is a versatile scholar.

The concept of Bhakti of Vāsudeva is reflected in the poem. Vāsudeva reveals his devotion to Viṣṇu through various ways. The quotations from Bhāgavata, the synonymns of Kṛṣṇa employed in the every first verses of each canto, invocatory verse in the Padacandrikā commentary etc. pave the way to bring forth his concept of Bhakti towards Kṛṣṇa. References from the works of the scholars who considered as the followers of Vaiṣṇavism like Rūpagosvāmin, Bopadeva etc. can be seen in Vāsudevavijaya This enlightens the preference given to Vaiṣṇava philosophy by Vāsudeva. Besides, the philosophical perspective of Vāsudeva can also be revealed from the eulogy to Kṛṣṇa everywhere in the poem especially in the sixth canto. Thus Vāsudevavijaya can be regarded as an important contribution to the Bhakti literature also.

Besides, the authorship and date of the poem is controversial and there are differences of opinion among scholars regarding this aspect. Two prevalent arguments are existed regarding the authorship of Vāsudevavijaya The former states the author is identical with that of the author of Yudhiṣtiravijaya. According to this argument, the date of Vāsudevavijaya cannot be later than the 11^th century A.D. But this view is not acceptable. In the later arguments, it is said that the author of Vāsudevavijaya and Govindacarita remains the same. It views that Vāsudeva can be the elder contemporary of Melputtūr Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa and hence he belongs to the close of the 16^th century A.D.

Amongst, the first argument is not acceptable. It is identified that Vāsudeva in his poem mentioned certain grammarians such as Kṣīrasvāmin, Jayāditya, Bopadeva, Bhoja etc. Among them, Kṣīrasvāmin belongs to early 12^th century A.D. similarly the date of Bopadeva is 13^th century. Thus the date of Vāsudeva is possible to be later than this. The second view can be accepted. Some verses in the Padacandrikā commentary can also be seen in the Govindacarita. Melputtūr mentions this Vāsudeva in the opening verse of Dhātukāvya. From the commentary of Dhātukāvya it can be found that the author belongs to the village of Peruvanam near Trissur. Besides the commentary of Arjunarāvaṇīya also be the same Vāsudeva, the author of Vāsudevavijaya

Another fact to be noted here is it can be found out some deviations in the story with that of Bhāgavata. The tenth skandha of Bhāgavata forms the basis for the poem. But Vāsudeva introduces certain differences from the source. There are slight variations in the names of some demons. Similarly some long descriptions seen in Bhāgavata are abridged in Vāsudevavijaya, similarly some of them are excluded. Vāsudeva follows the Kṛṣṇa story prevalent in Kerala. On the other hand, Vāsudeva may make some innovations in the theme according to his imagination. Similarly, it finds difficult to incorporate all the episodes of the source in a poem illustrating grammatical rules. The long descriptions are excluded or abridged because the prime intention of the author is to bring forth the grammatical aspects. Thus it is not possible to depict all descriptions as it is.

Vāsudevavijaya is not a Mahākāvya. Even though the characteristic features assigned to a Mahākāvya by Poeticians are satisfied in this poem, it cannot be categorised into that class. The number of cantos, descriptions of city, season etc. can be found in this poem. But the justification in the definition is not enough to get the status of Mahākāvya. The depictions and incidents in the poem are too short and which are not capable to raise the status of the poem to a Mahākāvya.

The poetic figures like Metre, figures of speech, Dhvani, Vakrokti etc. can be found in the poem. But there an extra effort is taken to incorporate such elements in this work. All these literary elements are naturally and easily entered into the poem. But the presence of a strenuous effort is felt here even at some places. However, there are many verses with utmost poetic charm also. The verses to prove the talent of the poet are also seen in this poem abundantly.

As being a Śāstrakāvya, it is generally opined by others that there is an emaciation in the enjoyment of this poem. But this view is not an acceptable one. The words used by the author in order to illustrate the rules can also be found in the famous works also. The famous Mahākāvyas of Kālidāsa, Bhāravi, Māgha, Harṣa etc. hold such words in abundance. Thus it will not affect the enjoyment.

Vāsudevavijaya holds prominent place among the Vyakaraṇaśāstrakāyas from Kerala. The theme of the poem, unique method of illustrating Paninian rules, its comprehensiveness and brevity etc. pave the way to raise the popularity of Vāsudevavijaya among the scholars. The story of Kṛṣṇais very much familiar to the people and Vāsudevavijaya is the only complete poem illustrate the rules through this theme. It is already stated that unique style followed by Vāsudeva is befitted to comprehensiveness and brevity. Thus one can learn such a large number of rules through limited number of verses. Besides, Melputtūr Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa has completed the story of Vāsudevavijaya by composing Dhātukāvya. Hence completion of story by a renewed scholar likes Melputtūr shows the popularity of the poem. This fact throws light on the prominence of Vāsudevavijaya among Keralite Śāstrakāyas.

The present study has some limitations. It is essential to bring forth the literary analysis of the poem. It helps to reveal the charm of the poem to its extreme level. In the present study, only a brief survey through the literary aspects of the poem is brought out. Similarly the poem and its commentary is a treasury of Vedic and philosophical ideas. The quotations in the poem can only be located to an extent. The efforts of inventing such quotations essentially explicate the philosophy and characteristic of the author. Simultaneously, a comparison with other Vyakaraṇaśāstrakāvyas is also praise worthy. Studies on other Śāstrakāvyas, whether grammatical or else have ample scope, since such studies are only a few. Thus there is an immense possibility for further research, for the students who are interested in grammar.

To conclude, it is necessary to have further studies in the field of Śāstrakāvya literature. The importance and preference of grammar is seen too diminished during this age. People find it difficult to learn grammar and it causes to diminish their interest in this subject. Under these circumstances, Śāstrakāvyas have to familiarise the applications of the grammatical rules. Generally, the students are stick on the illustration studies in the Prakaraṇa texts and they remind unaware the usage of other examples for the rules. The Śāstrakāvyas are befitted to make them capable for understanding and applying the examples variously. Thus this kind of texts is too much beneficial to the students of the grammar. The major portion of this tradition is still available only in the form of manuscripts. It is essential to bring out such works to the world and this will definitely be a significant contribution to Sanskrit grammar. Studies and researches in this field are undoubtedly an asset to whole world of Sanskrit.