Essay name: Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala (study)
Author:
Shri N. M. Kansara
Affiliation: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda / Department of Sanskrit Pali and Prakrit
This is an English study of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala, a Sanskrit poem written in the 11th century. Technically, the Tilaka-manjari is classified as a Gadyakavya (鈥減rose-romance鈥�). The author, Dhanapala was a court poet to the Paramara king Munja, who ruled the Kingdom of Malwa in ancient west-central India.
Chapter 15 - The Tilakamanjari as a Prose Poetic work
4 (of 188)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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by Sanskrit theorists on the art of literature have stood
the test of time. The technique of Sanskrit poets directly
derived from their material on the one hand, and the stan-
dards fixed by grammar, prosody, etc., on the other. The
one consideration central to Sanskrit criticism was impe-
ccability. As on the absence of palpable defects, so does,
Sanskrit theory insisted on the presence of positive ex-
cellences (gunas) in all the recognisable elements of a
composition. While the Gunas formed a pre-requisite con-
dition in the equipment of a poet as well as of a trained
critic, there was another equally important condition, viz.,
Rasa or aesthetic emotion (distinct from personal emotion)
which is a part of one's innate endowment, and not an ac-
quired sensibility. The critic's first function was to re-
cognize this underlying unity in the work of poetry before
he passed to appreciate its excellences in particular ele-
ments.
(iii) DHANAP膧LA'S OWN NORMS :-
Dhanap膩la had most of these specific litera-
ry standards in view when he composed his TM in the early
decades of the eleventh century A.D. His close study of
the performance of his highly venerated literary predecessors
had enabled him to determined a few norms of his own too.
His intention was to compose a major prose-romance, a
