Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c50: XXVI Kesava Misra And Sauddhodani

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c50

Language
English

XXVI Kesava Misra And Sauddhodani

v1.c50.1

Keśava himself tells us that he composed his *Alaṃkāra-śekhara* at the request of a ruling chief named Māṇikyacandra, son of Dharmacandra and grandson of Rāmacandra, who is said to have ruled near Diḷhī (Dhilli) and defeated the king of Kābila (Kabul?). Eggeling¹ is obviously wrong in identifying him with Māṇikyacandra of Tirabhukti or Tirhut; while Bühler² did not go further than suggesting that this prince was not a Kashmiri an but ruled or lived in Delhi just before the Muhammadan conquest. The patron of our author, however, appears to be Māṇikyacandra of Koṭ-kaṅgra, whose genealogy corresponds to that given by Keśava and whose date of accession, according to Cunningham³, is 1563 A.D. The literary activity of Keśava may, therefore, be fixed in the third quarter of the 16th century.

v1.c50.2

¹ *IOC* no. 1197.

v1.c50.3

² *Kashmir Rep.* p. 69.

v1.c50.4

³ *Arch. Survey* v. 152f, at p. 160. (cf *JASB*, 1907, p. 212).

v1.c50.5

The kārikā-portion of the *Alaṃkāra-śekhara*, called here *sūtra*, is declared to have been based on, if not actually taken from, some lost work of an authority who is cited as *bhagavān* (or *maharṣi* p. 50) Śaudhodani, Keśava himself apparently assuming the modest role of a commentator or interpreter in the running prose-*vṛtti*. The name Śaudhodani, apparently Buddhistic, is otherwise unknown in Alaṃkāra-literature¹. Whatever may be the original source of his work, Keśava shows himself conversant with the works of most of his predecessors, and quotes, among more recent writers, Rājaśekhara (pp. 32, 67), Bhoja, Mahimabhatta, Mammaṭa, the *Vāg-bhaṭālaṃkāra* and Deveśvara. He also quotes one Śrīpāda (pp. 4, 5, 6, 23, 27, 32, 51), who may be his master Śaudhodani himself designated by this honorific term, as well as the author of a *Kavi-kalpalatā* who is described as a follower of this Śrīpāda². This Kavi-kalpalatā-kāra, however, is neither Deveśvara nor Arisiṃha and Amaracandra, whose works also bear a similar title. The passage cited by Keśava in this connexion (pp. 48-9, *veṇyāḥ sarpāsi-bhṛṅgālyo* etc.) gives a list of more or less conventional words useful for the purpose of conveying a simile or metaphor. A comparison of an almost similar passage in Deveśvara (p. 157f), who copies it directly from Arisiṃha and Amaracandra (pp. 135f), will show enough verbal discrepancy to indicate that neither of these sources constitutes the original from which Keśava quotes. A similar discrepancy is also noticeable in another passage of Keśava’s (*ratnāni yatra tatrādrau* etc. pp. 55-6), which at first sight will seem to have been borrowed from Deveśvara (p. 36f) who, however, copies it almost literally from Arisimha and Amaracandra (p. 30f). At the same time, Keśava betrays otherwise an acquaintance with Deveśvara’s text, from which he reproduces at least one long passage anonymously (*nṛpe kīrti-pratāpājñā* etc. p. 57= Deveśvara p. 26f), which Deveśvara himself probably adapted from Arisimha and Amaracandra (p. 27f); but it is curious that Keśava copies here the text of Deveśvara with its variations, rather than the original text of Arisimha and Amara on this point.

v1.c50.6

¹ This Śaudhodani should not be identified with the Śaudhodani mentioned in the *maṅgala-verse* (where it apparently stands for the name of Buddha) of the *Vidagdha-mukha-maṇḍana* of Dharmadāsa Sūri.

v1.c50.7

² *śrīpāda-matānusārī-kavikalpalatā-kāraḥ* p. 48 ed. Kāvyamālā.

v1.c50.8

The opinions of a writer called Govardhana is frequently cited by Keśava (pp. 17, 29, 37, 43, 49). There is also a reference to Jayadeva, *paṇḍita-kavi* (p. 17) in the court of an Utkala king. If this person is identical with the poet Jayadeva, who is said to have lived under Lakṣmaṇa Sena of Bengal and who also calls himself Javadeva *paṇḍita-kavi* in his *Gīta-govinda* (xii p. 171)¹, then it is likely that Govardhana, who is quoted immediately before this reference to Jayadeva, may be the poet of that name, who was Jayadeva’s contemporary referred to in the beginning of the *Gīta-govinda*.

v1.c50.9

¹ The verse *unmīlan-madhu-gandha* of the *Gīta-govinda* (ed. N. S. P. p. 29) is quoted anonymously by Keśava at p. 6, as an instance of the *gauḍī rīti*.

v1.c50.10

Keśava tells us that he had already composed seven abstruse treatises on the subject before he undertook the composition of his *Alaṃkāra-śekhara*. Two of these are apparently those which are mentioned in the text as his own under the citations *Alaṃkāra-sarvasva* (p. 9) and *Vākyaratna* (p. 12) or *Kāvyaratna* (p. 72). A *Kāvyaratna* is mentioned in Oppert ii 6237.

v1.c50.11

Editions. (1) Kāvyamālā 50, 1895 (2) Gaṇeśa Śarman, Benares 1866. Our references are to the Kāvyamālā ed.

v1.c50.12

MSS. Aufrecht i 32b, ii 6b, 188a, iii 7b; *SCC* vii 4.

Linked texts (9)