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The foregoing discussion makes it clear that Kuntaka holds 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 in high steem, even though he is not a blind admirer of him. As a practical literary critic, Kuntaka does not hesitate to indicate the defects in the works of the master poet. Kuntaka鈥檚 appreciation and criticism of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 are genuine and admirable. He cites large number of verses from the works of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 to illustrate tender style and sentential figurativeness. It is notable that Kuntaka uses his five vakratas except phonetic figurativeness for evaluating the works of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补. These are the common factors discussed in the selected works of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补. The explanation of sentient and non sentient objects, the subject matter of the poet and contextual figurativeness are the other common factor discussed in the works of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 except 惭别驳丑补诲奴迟补. For evaluating 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补, Kuntaka uses compositional figurativeness only once for indicating the beauty of the title 础产丑颈箩帽腻苍补艣腻办耻苍迟补濒补. Kuntaka鈥檚 all other observations on 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 are found in contextual figurativeness. Contextual figurativeness helps to evaluate the works of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 at a comprehensive level.

The proper assessment of a great poet like 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 is not an easy task. But from the above instances it is clear that Kuntaka had done justice in evaluating him properly. The unique attempt made by a rhetorician like Kuntaka to point out some notable verses will help to bring forth the greatness and also at the same time some small draw backs of the master poet. From the keen evaluation of Kuntaka鈥檚 judgement of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补, it is clear that the uniqueness of Kuntaka is mainly due to three reasons. One of them is his boldness in criticizing the master poets. Another one is his boldness in breaking the theory of early rhetoricians with apt explanation and the suggestion of new one in its place by replacing the old one. Yet another reason is his propriety in making plausible innovative changes in certain situations.

One of his innovative changes is found in 搁补驳丑耻惫补峁兣沘. For explaining the beauty of tender style, Kuntaka cites a verse beginning with 箩测腻产补苍诲丑补苍颈峁�p补苍诲补产丑耻箩别苍补 yasya etc. from 搁补驳丑耻惫补峁兣沘. Here Kuntaka has used the word 鈥�诲补艣腻苍补苍别苍补鈥�, while 惭补濒濒颈苍腻迟丑补 and other commentators have used 鈥�濒补峁卥别艣惫补谤别峁嘺鈥� in this verse. Here the two epithets used for 搁腻惫补峁嘺 are 苍颈谤箩颈迟补惫腻蝉补惫补 and 诲补艣腻苍补苍补. The miserable plight of 搁腻惫补峁嘺 is mentioned through two compound words. They are 鈥�箩测腻产补苍诲丑补苍颈峁�p补苍诲补产丑耻箩别苍补鈥� and 鈥�惫颈苍颈岣ヅ泇补蝉补诲惫补办迟谤补辫补谤补尘辫补谤别峁嘺.鈥� Shanbag in one of his articles^[1] opines that by comparing the two epithets respectively with these two compound words, it is clear that 鈥�诲补艣腻苍补苍补鈥� is far better than 鈥�濒补峁卥别艣惫补谤别峁嘺鈥�. Moreover in a single verse of 痴颈办谤补尘辞谤惫补艣墨测补 a word 惫补苍腻苍迟别鈥� smin is changed by 惫补苍辞诲诲别艣别. Like wise in the verse darpa峁噀 ca parihogadar艣in墨鈥�of 碍耻尘腻谤补蝉补尘产丑补惫补, the word 惫墨办峁�y补 was used instead of 辫谤别办峁�y补 without hampering the meaning. This reveals that there are some minute variant readings in the verses of the master poets like 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 in the poetic works. May be the variant readings are the innovation made by either the editor or the author of that particular text. Here it is better to think that Kuntaka has changed the synonym of a word without deviating the meaning of the verse to increase the charm of it.

Kuntaka brings forth yet another poetic excellence of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 through the depiction of the hunting episode of Da艣ratha. Actually there is no reason to support the cruel deed of 顿补艣补谤补迟丑补 in his hunting episode. But according to 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补, it is unfair to depict a king of solar dynasty in a wrong way. Description of this hunting episode is essential, because it leads to the curse episode which is fundamental to the progress of the story. So 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 with his poetic excellence tries to portray 顿补艣补谤补迟丑补鈥檚 qualities using few verses. First of all 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 depicts 顿补艣补谤补迟丑补鈥檚 profound excitement in hunting. Then he depicts king鈥檚 concern of living beings like peocock, deer etc. This will help the connoisseurs to think that such a kindhearted man will never deliberately commit such a sin. Then for protecting 顿补艣补谤补迟丑补, the master poet opines that even sometimes due to bad luck good people also go in a wrong way. Thus 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 very convincingly save the fame of 顿补艣补谤补迟丑补 instead of saying that he mistakenly killed a young blind ascetic boy. These make clear that 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 brilliantly absolves 顿补艣补谤补迟丑补 of his sin. Moreover in 搁补驳丑耻惫补峁兣沘 顿补艣补谤补迟丑补 says that the curse fallen on him is like a blessing because of his childlessness. This is also one of the beautiful incidents cited by Kuntaka to reveals the poetic excellence of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补.

Another notable nature of Kuntaka is that most probably he is the only rhetorician who had shown the boldness to criticize K膩id膩sa. Kuntaka points out the impropriety of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 by citing two incidents from 搁补驳丑耻惫补峁兣沘 and one from 碍耻尘腻谤补蝉补尘产丑补惫补. In 搁补驳丑耻惫补峁兣沘 Kuntaka criticizes 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 because of the depiction of 搁腻尘补鈥檚 remembrance of the bad deed of 碍补颈办别测墨 even after his victory. Another one is 顿颈濒墨辫补鈥檚 answer to the lion. In 碍耻尘腻谤补蝉补尘产丑补惫补, Kuntaka points out the impropriety in the harsh words showered by Cupid towards Indra. These incidents are discussed above. Suppose here 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 may want to show that sometimes even great personalities have such weakness. But according to Kuntaka a great poet should always be conscious in the depiction of ideal characters. Kuntaka does not tolerate minute faults of the ideal heroes because it will adversely influence the readers. A poet can easily influence the people of a society. A sincere critic should be a good judge. These observations of Kuntaka prove that as a critic he always would like to uphold moral values. At the same time it is clear that the aim of Kuntaka was not to humiliate the master poet through his criticism. The selection of large number of verses from 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补 shows Kuntaka鈥檚 acceptance of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补. Kuntaka just fulfills his duty as a sincere critic without considering the stature of the poets.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

The name of the article is鈥�Variant Readings of 碍腻濒颈诲腻蝉补鈥檚 verses in Kuntaka鈥檚 痴补办谤辞办迟颈箩墨惫颈迟补.鈥� It is in the Centenary Commemoration Volume, Vol.XVI. p.22.