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 (“prose-romance�). The author, Dhanapala was a court poet to the Paramara king Munja, who ruled the Kingdom of Malwa in ancient west-central India.
Chapter 16 - The Tilakamanjari as a Sanskrit novel
131 (of 138)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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1990 1011
And after all, a Sanskrit prose-romance, like medieval Euro- pean Romances, were meant to be enjoyed as a literature to be publicly listened to rather than read. And Dhanapāla was not, and could not possibly be, expected to divorce himself of a highly approbated tradition in as much as veteran San- skrit rhetoricians of his age, such as Rudraṭa, Rājasekhara and especially Anandavardhana whole-heartedly recommended that the poet should never cut himself off the literary tra- 407 dition and conventions.
Moreover, any Sanskrit student well-equipped in the
essentials of Pāṇinian or Kātantra system of Sanskrit gra-
mmar would not find it difficult to scent his path through
the thick of long compounds of Dhanapāla's, or for that ma-
tter even Bāṇa's, prose, especially when he can requisition
a
the help of /commentator in abstruse portions which may
be found difficult due to the passage of marexthan at
least a thousand years since their composition. On the con-
trary, an adequately equipped student of Sanskrit language
having a genuine love for Sanskrit literature and oriental
scholarship would, in addition, enjoy" a true melody thin
the long, rolling compounds, a sesquipedalian majesty which
408 can never be equalled save in Sanskrit". as also the sweet
lulling music in his allierations.
407. KMR(S),XI,p. 151; शब्दार्थोक्तिष� या प्रश्यदि� किञ्चन नूतनम् �
उल्लिख� त्तिञ्चन प्राप्� मन्यता� � महाकवि� �
[śabdārthoktiṣu yā praśyadita kiñcana nūtanam |
ullikhe ttiñcana prāpya manyatā� sa mahākavi� ||
] ; ibid., X:
जानीयाल्लो� साम्मन्य� कविः कुत्� ममेत� � � असम्मत परिहरे न्मल�-
ऽभिनिविशेत
� �
[jānīyālloka sāmmanya� kavi� kutra mameti ca | asammata parihare nmale-
'Ծśٲ
ca ||
] ; DHL, IV, 13 d: 11-421124 (p.t.o)
DHL,IV,13
