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Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c43: XXIII Vidyanatha And Kumarasvamin

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c43

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XXIII Vidyanatha And Kumarasvamin

v1.c43.1

The latest writer that Vidyānātha cites is Ruyyaka (pp. 291, 334), whose lost work *Sāhitya-mīmāṃsā* is also apparently referred to at p. 11. Vidyānātha, in his turn, is quoted extensively but anonymously for definitions of poetic figures by Mallinātha in the latter’s many commentaries on the different *kāvyas*¹.

v1.c43.2

¹ For the quotations, see Trivedi’s introd. to the text p. ix.

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This gives us the same broad limits to his date as to that of Vidyādhara; and other considerations make it probable that he was contemporaneous with the latter. The *Pratāparudra-yaśo-bhūṣaṇa* of Vidyānātha was written, like the *Ekāvalī*, with the obvious object of panegyrising the king whose name it bears on its title. All the illustrative verses in the work eulogise the same king (also called Vīrarudra or Rudra), who is described as the son of Mahādeva and Munmuḍi or Mummaḍambā (pp. 12, 13, 16, 17, 133); and a short drama, named *Pratāpa-kalyāṇa*² after him, is introduced in the third chapter to illustrate the characteristics of a drama, discussed in the work itself. He is described as a *kākatiya* king¹ whose capital was Ekaśilā-nagara in the Triliṅga or Andhra country, and who is said to have vanquished, among other kings, the princes of the Yādava family. All these and other details have led Trivedi to identify Vidyānātha's patron with Pratāparudra, the seventh *kākatiya* king of Ekaśilā or Orangal, whose inscriptions date between 1298 and 1317 A.D.², and who is placed by Sewell between 1295 and 1323 A.D., and by Śeṣagiri Śāstrī between 1268 and 1319 A.D.³ The Yādava king referred to, therefore, seems to be Rāmacandra, sixth ruler of the Yādavas of Devagiri, whose dates are 1271 to 1309 A.D.⁴ We may, therefore, assign Vidyānātha approximately towards the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century.

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² separately entered by Aufrecht i 349a and published in the Granthamālā vol. i.

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¹ so called, as the *Ratnāpaṇa* explains (p. 10, also *Ratnaśāṇa* p. 485) from the goddess Kākati he worshipped.

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² Eggeling (*IOC* iii p. 338) gives the dates 1298 and 1317.

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³ See Trivedi, introd. pp. xvi-xxii. The correct dates appear to be 1298 and 1323 A. D.

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⁴ Bhandarkar, *Early Hist.* p. 92.

v1.c43.9

Vidyānātha's commentator Kumārasvāmin describes himself as the son of Kolācala Mallinātha, the well-known commentator and author of *Taralā* on the *Ekāvalī*. He may, therefore, be placed in the beginning of the 15th century. The title of his commentary *Ratnāpaṇa*, (wrongly called *Ratnārpaṇa* by Eggeling, *op. cit.* p. 338b, following Burnell 56b) signifies, as he himself explains, a market-place where are sold jewels of poetic sentiments, collected together by Vidyānātha after they have been fashioned on the grindstone furnished by the merits of the hero.

v1.c43.10

The quotations in the *Ratnapaṇa* are numerous and include, besides other well-known names, the *Śṛṅgāra-prakāśa* of Bhoja, the *Ekāvalī*, the *Sāhitya-darpaṇa* (p. 245), Cakravartin and his *Saṃjīvanī* commentary on Ruyyaka, Siṅgabhūpāla and his *Rasārṇava-sudhākara*, the author's own father Mallinātha and brother Peddayārya, Bhaṭṭa Gopāla and Narahari Sūri. There are numerous references to a work on *rasa*, called *Bhāva-prakāśa*, a MS of which, recently acquired by the Madras Oriental Library, makes it out to be an epitome of Bhoja's larger *Śṛṅgāra-prakāśa* and gives the name of the author as Śāradātanaya (q.v.). Mention is also made of Vasantarājīya Nāṭya-śāstra, its author Vasantarāja (q.v.) being apparently the king of Kumāragiri of the same name, who was a patron of Kāṭayavema. A Kavikalpadruma-kāra is also cited at p. 170, but this is a work on grammar (*dhātupāṭha*) by Vopadeva. We know nothing of the *Nāṭaka-prakāśa* cited at p. 113. The *Rasa-nirūpaṇa* may be by Narahari Sūri, and the *Sāhitya-cintāmaṇi* is probably the work of the same name composed by Vīranārāyaṇa (q.v.)¹.

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¹ For these authors, see the chapter on Minor Writers below.

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There is another commentary, called *Ratna-śāṇa*, included in the Bombay edition of the text.

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Editions. (1) by K. P. Trivedi in Bombay Sanks. Series 65, 1909, with Kumārasvāmin's *Ratnāpaṇa*, and *Ratnaśiṇa*, and notes and introd. (Our references are to this edition) (2) lithographed ed., Poona 1849 (3) by Sarasvatī-Tiruveṅkaḍa Ācārya and Vaṅgīpuram Rāmakṛṣṇam Ācarya, with *Ratnāpaṇa*, Madras 1868, 1869, 1871, 1888.

v1.c43.14

MSS. Aufrecht i 349a, ii 78a, iii 74b. *WRAS* 89 (1), 77 (*Ratnāpaṇa*); *SCC* vii 32; *Madras Trm A* 241: *Madras Cat.* 12902-914. MSS of the *Ratnāpaṇa* *Madras Cat.* 12915-19.

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