Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c48.25

v1.c48.25

Following upon these, we have innumerable works of a similar nature, which take *rasa*, especially *śṛṅgāra*, as its principal theme, and which were composed apparently with the purpose of guiding the poet with rules and illustrations in the composition of erotic pieces so popular and profuse in Sanskrit literature. The most important of these works and their authors will be mentioned in the chapter on Minor Writers. Some Vaiṣṇava authors, like Rūpa-gosvāmin, however, attempt to bring vaiṣṇava ideas to bear upon the general theme of poetic or dramatic rasa, and we shall, for convenience of treatment, take them in a group here.