Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c22.1

v1.c22.1

Abhinavagupta’s fame rests chiefly on his philosophical works on Kashmir Śaivaism, but he appears also to have attained a considerable reputation in the realm of Poetics by his two remarkable commentaries on Bharata and on Ānandavardhana, called respectively *Abhinava-bhāratī* and *Kāvyāloka-locana*. He also cites in his *Locana* (p. 178, also p. 29) another commentary (*vivaraṇa*) of his own, now lost, on the *Kāvya-kautuka* (apparently dealing with Alaṃkāra) by one of his teachers (*asmad-upādhyāya*) Bhaṭṭa Tauta. Nothing is known of this Bhaṭṭa Tauta (also called Bhaṭṭa Tota); but it appears that Abhinava's commentary on Bharata was probably inspired by this teacher, who is cited there very frequently, just as his *Locana* was inspired by his other teacher Bhaṭṭendu-rāja. The *Kāvya-kautuka* is also referred to in the anonymous commentary on the *Vyakti-viveka* (p. 13); and Hemacandra (p. 316) quotes three verses from Bhaṭṭa Tauta in his text and reproduces (p. 59) in his commentary (appropriating the passage directly from Abhinava on Bharata) an opinion of this teacher in connexion with the theory of *rasa*. Kṣemendra in his *Aucitya-vicāra* (under *śl.* 35) attributes to Tauta a fragment of a verse which is given in full but anonymously by Hemacandra (p. 3)¹. Tauta is also cited by Caṇḍidāsa in his *Dīpikā* commentary on Mammaṭa.