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Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c48.s1: Rūpa And Jīva Gosvāmin

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c48.s1

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Rūpa And Jīva Gosvāmin

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Rūpa Gosvāmin, son of Kumāra and grandson of Mukunda, is the author of numerous vaiṣṇava works, including the *Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi*. He is well known as a contemporary of Caitanya, the Vaiṣṇava reformer of Bengal, and must have, therefore, flourished towards the end of the 15th and the first half of the 16th century. This date is confirmed by the dates which some of his works bear. His *Vidagdha-mādhava* was composed in 1533 A.D.¹; while his *Utkalikā-vallarī* is dated in 1550 A.D.².

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¹ incorrectly given by Aufrecht as 1549 at i 572 (*Cat. Bod.* 145a), but corrected by himself at ii 126, 135.

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² Mitra 3278.

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The commentary *Locana-rocanī* was composed by his nephew Jīva Gosvāmin, son of his brother Vallabha³. A tradition in Bengal gives śaka 1445 (= 1523 A.D.), and śaka 1540 (= 1618 A.D.) as the dates of his birth and death respectively.

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³ Eggeling (*IOC* ii 358) and Haraprasāda Śāstrī (*Notices* i 33) ascribe it erroneously to Rūpa’s brother Sanātana Gosvāmin and Vallabha respectively, a mistake which is prepetuated by Aufrecht i 62a, iii 14b. A similar confusion is made in Mitra ii p. 36, where the *Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi* itself is ascribed to Jīva Gosvāmin (H. P. Śāstrī i no. 32). In the same way, the authorship of the *Stava-mālā* has been variously attributed to Rūpa, Jīva (*Proc. ASB* 1865 p. 138) and Sanātana (Kāśīnātha Kunte, *Rep.* p. 32).

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Rūpa Gosvāmin also appears to have written a treatise on Dramaturgy called Nāṭaka-candrikā, which is quoted in the commentary on the Vidagdha-mādhava and in the Vaiṣṇava-toṣiṇī. At the commencement of this work, Rūpa Gosvāmin states that in composing it he consulted the Bharata-śāstra and Rasa-sudhākara (the Rasārṇava-sudhākara of Siṅgabhūpāla ?), and rejected generally (i 2) the treatment of the Sāhitya-darpaṇa as being opposed to Bharata's views. The topics dealt with are (1) general characteristics of a drama (2) the hero (nāyaka) (3) the divisions of a rūpaka (nāndī etc) (4) elements in the action (sandhi, patākā etc) and their classification (5) arthôpakṣepaka and its divisions (viṣkambhaka etc) (6) division of acts and scenes (7) distribution of dialects (bhāṣāvidhāna) (8) styles of dramatic composition (vṛtti) and their employment according to the rasa intended. The work is not a small one, and the illustrations, taken mostly from Vaiṣṇava works, are fairly minute and numerous. In his Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi he gives illustrative verses from most of his own poetical and dramatic productions, such as Uddhava-dūta, Vidagdha-mādhava, Dānakeli-kaumudī and other works¹. A Rasāmṛta-śeṣa is also attributed to Rūpa.

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¹ For a list of his works see Aufrecht i 533.

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VIŚVANĀTHA CAKRAVARTIN

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Viśvanātha Cakravartin, who wrote the commentary, called Ānanda-candrikā or Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi-kiraṇa, lived at end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century; for he composed a commentary called *Sārārtha-darśinī* on the *Bhāgavata* in *śaka* 1626 = 1704 A.D., while his *Ānanda-candrikā* is also dated in *śaka* 1618 = 1696 A.D. He also wrote, besides several *vaiṣṇava* works, a commentary on the *Alaṃkāra-kaustubha* of Kavikarṇapūra, mentioned below.

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