Kavyamimamsa of Rajasekhara (Study)
by Debabrata Barai | 2014 | 105,667 words
This page relates 鈥楲ife and Date of Rajashekhara鈥� 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).
Go directly to: Footnotes.
Part 2 - Life and Date of 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补
The author of the Sanskrit literature usually does not reveal their identity, because they were hardly aspirant for name and fame. They used to be very humble therefore it is difficult to locate their date of birth, place of birth and their contribution which is surely the subject of investigation and research. For many Sanskrit authors like 础艣惫补驳丑辞峁, 叠丑腻蝉补 and 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 are do not give us any information about themselves or the age in which time they are lived. But the great-master mind 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补鈥檚 personal history gives us more information than other Sanskrit poets. However all the scholars are not unanimously agree about his proper times, their views are different from each others. In this causes we can try to get help with some of the historical evidences, i.e. inner and outer.
In the prologues of his dramas 叠腻濒补谤腻尘腻测补峁嘺, 叠腻濒补产丑腻谤补迟补 and 碍补谤辫奴谤补尘补帽箩补谤墨 he was adorned 鲍辫腻诲丑测腻测补 in the court of 惭补丑别苍诲谤补辫腻濒补 of Kanouj and he was also patronized by 惭补丑别苍诲谤补辫腻濒补鈥檚 son and successor 惭补丑颈辫腻濒补. C.f.
鈥�膩pann膩ttihara岣� par膩kramadhana岣� saujanyav膩r膩峁僴idhi-
sty膩g墨 satyasudh膩prav膩ha艣a艣峁沚hatk膩nta岣� kav墨n膩峁� gur奴岣� |
va峁噛a峁� v膩 gu峁嘺ratnaroha峁嘺gire岣� ki峁� tasya s膩k峁Ｄ乨asau
devo yasya mahendrap膩lan峁沺ati岣� 艣i峁o raghugr膩ma峁嚹弗 触触鈥�- 叠腻濒补谤腻尘腻测补峁嘺 of 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补: I/ 18
In the Siydoni Inscription described that the king 惭补丑别苍诲谤补辫腻濒补 was reigning in 903 and 907 A. D. and 惭补丑别苍诲谤补辫腻濒补 in the year 917. A. D.[1] Thus 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 may be flourished between last quarter of ninth century and first quarter of tenth century.
There are some inner evidences from where we can try to fix the date about 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补. In the K膩vyam墨m膩峁僺膩 he quotes about 痴腻办辫补迟颈谤腻箩补[2], the author of 骋补耻岣峚惫补丑辞 and 鲍诲产丑补峁璦[3], the 蝉补产丑腻辫补迟颈 of 闯补测腻辫墨诲补, king of 碍腻艣尘颈谤补 (779 to 813 century A. D.) and 膧苍补苍诲补惫补谤诲丑补苍补,[4] the author of Dhvany膩loka flourished in the reign of 础惫补苍迟墨惫补谤尘腻 of 碍腻艣尘墨谤补 (857-884 century A. D.). Therefore, in the Ya艣a峁ａ弓ilaka [Ya艣astilaka?] 颁丑补尘辫奴 of Somadeva also refer about the 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 which was completed in 960 century A. D. and 厂辞峁弓补濒补 [厂辞岣嶀笉丑补濒补] (990 century A. D.) also praised of 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补. Thus we can think that 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 was lived in 857-990 century A. D.
Beside those, there are some other sources also help to us about the date of 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补. V. S. Apte fixes the earliest possible date of 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 from the verse in the drama 叠腻濒补谤腻尘腻测补峁嘺 and 叠腻濒补产丑腻谤补迟补 as:
鈥�babh奴va valm墨kabhava岣� 辫耻谤腻 kavistata岣� prapede bhuvi bhart峁沵e峁囜弓hat膩m |
tata岣� sthito yo bhavabh奴tire kh膩y膩 sa vartate samprati r膩ja艣ekhara岣� || 鈥�
- 叠腻濒补谤腻尘腻测补峁嘺 -1/16 and
- 叠腻濒补产丑腻谤补迟补-1/12
Here, 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 describe himself as the incarnation of the great poets 痴腻濒尘墨办颈, 叠丑补谤迟峁沵别峁囜弓丑补 and 叠丑补惫补产丑奴迟颈. 叠丑补惫补产丑奴迟颈 flourished in the last quarter of the seventh century A. D. Hence, 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 flourished after seventh century and places him in tenth century A. D.
F. Max Muller posits 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 in the fourteen century A. D. Here he seems to have confused about the author of K膩vyam墨m膩峁僺膩 with later poet with same name who wrote the 笔谤补产补苍诲丑补办辞峁 in 1347 A. D.[5] According to Anandaram Barooh, 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 was lived in the seventh century A. D.[6] Therefore, Peterson and Durgaprasada think that, 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 was born in the middle of the eighth century A.D.
In this way various scholar are divided for their different views of 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补鈥檚 date. At lastly we can fixed the date of 搁腻箩补艣别办丑补谤补 is between the last quarter of ninth century A. D. and the beginning of the tenth century A. D.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Epigraphic Indica, Vol-I, Pp- 171.
[2]:
鈥�na鈥� iti 惫腻办辫补迟颈谤腻箩补岣� | K膩vyam墨m膩峁僺膩, Pp- 62
[3]:
[6]:
Ibid.