Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c50.5

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.