Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c51: XXVII Appayya Diksita

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c51

Language: English

v1.c51.s1 The Commentators On Appayya — 3 parts
v1.c51.s2 Kuvalayānanda — 18 parts

XXVII Appayya Diksita

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Appayya Diksita himself furnishes us with a clue to his date. He tells us at the end of his *Kuvalayānanda* that it was composed at the instance of a South Indian prince named Venkata¹. Aufrecht², and following him Eggeling³, identify this patron of Appayya with Venkata of Vijayanagara (about 1535 A.D.), while Hultzsch⁴ shows that he was Venkata I of Pennakonda, whose inscriptions range from *saka* 1508 to 1535 (= 1586 to 1613 A.D.).⁵ On the other hand, in the colophon to his *Sivādityamani-dīpikā* (Hultzsch 1056), Appayya mentions as his patron a prince Cinnabomma, the son of Cinavīra and father of Lingamanāyaka. The inscriptions of this chief of Velur (Vellore in the North Arcot District) are dated in *śaka* 1471 and 1488 (=1549 and 1566 A.D.)¹. The extreme limits, therefore, of Appayya’s literary activity are 1549 and 1613 A.D. We may thus assign him to the third and fourth quarters of the 16th century, and as he was alive in the time of Veṅkaṭa I he may have lived into the beginning of the 17th century². This date is confirmed by the fact that we find Appayya cited by Kamalākara Bhaṭṭa in the first quarter of the 17th century and attacked by Jagan-nātha about the same time; while Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita (a grandson of Appayya’s brother), whose *Nīlakaṇṭha-campū* is dated in 1637 A.D., wrote a *Citramīmāṃsā-doṣa-dhikkāra*³ apparently in vindication of Appayya’s work of that name against Jagannātha’s attack.

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¹ Cf also *śl* 168 (ed. N. S. P. 1913) which, though occurring also in the text of Jayadeva's *Candrāloka*, is probably one of Appayya's additions.

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² *Cat. Bod.* 213a. But in his *Cat. Cat.* i 22a and ii 5a, he assigns the dates, viz. end of the 15th and end of the 16th century respectively. Regnaud's conjecture (*Rhétorique Sansk.* p. 375) that Appayya flourished in reign of Kṛṣṇarāja of Vijayanagara in 1520 A.D. is not correct.

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³ *IOC* iii p. 335.

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⁴ *Rep. of South Ind. Sansk. MSS* ii p. xiii and *EI* iv 271 (cf *JASB* 1907, p. 211).

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⁵ *South Ind. Inscrip.* i p. 69f and p. 84.

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¹ *IA* xiii p. 155 and *EI* iii p. 238 Table.

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² He is said to have lived to the ripe old age of 73 (see introd. to Hālāsyanātha’s ed. of *Kuvalayānanda* p. 15), and according to Kṛṣṇamācārya (*Hist. of Classical Sansk. Lit.* Madras 1906, p. 104) Appayya lived from 1554 to 1626 A.D. Veṅkaṭa, author of the *Viśvaguṇādarśa* and a grandson of Appayya, tells us that he hailed from Kāñci (or Conjeve-ram).

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³ The *Doṣajitkāra* (?) by Cinna Appayya Dīkṣita in Oppert 4802 is probably a mistake for this work. Nīlakaṇṭha, pupil of Kṛṣṇānanda Yogīndra and Veṅkaṭeśvara, was the son of Nārāyaṇa, and grandson of Apya (or Accha) who was Appayya’s brother. For this work of his, see Hultzsch, *Rep.* ii p. 126, no. 1281 (up to *apahnuti-prakaraṇa*).

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The correct form of the name is probably Appa or Apya Dīkṣita, which we find him himself using in his *Kuvalayānanda*, but it is variously spelt as *Appaya* and *Appayya*. A champion of Southern Śaivism he was a versatile and prolific writer, and tradition ascribes to him more than one hundered works, of which Aufrecht mentions nearly seventy. He was the son of Raṅgarāja (or Raṅgarājādhvarin) and had a brother called Apya or Accha.

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Appayya is notable in Sanskrit Poetics for his three works, viz. the *Kuvalayānanda*, the *Citra-mīmāṃsā* and the *Vṛtti-vārttika*. Of these, the last seems to have been his earliest work, after which comes the *Citra-mīmāṃsā* which is referred to in his *Kuvalayānanda*. None of these works displays much originality; and we have seen that his *Kuvalayānanda* was directly based on Jayadeva's *Candrāloka*, up to the section on the figure *hetu*¹. To the "one hundred" alaṃkāras of Jayadeva, Appayya, however, adds twenty-four², and this perhaps constitutes the largest number of such figures mentioned in any Alaṃkāra work, and forms the climax in the process of multiplying the poetic fignres with endless minute differentiation. The *Citra-mīmāṃsā* is a more independent work; but it was probably left incomplete. In most of the MSS¹, as well as in the printed texts², it goes up to the *atiśayôkti-prakaraṇa* and breaks off with the curious verse

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¹ See above pp. 220-21

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² In the text of the *Kuvalayānanda-kārikā* with Āsādhara's commentary, which is translated by Schmidt and published in the N. S. P. 1909, the fourth chapter dealing with *śabdālaṃkāras* is an interpolation, or rather mistaken incorporation into the text of Appayya of a chapter from Cirañjīva Bhaṭṭācārya's *Kāvya-vilāsa* (IOC iii pp. 343-44), as the colophon at the end of that chapter itself shows. It well known that the *Kuvalayānanda* deals only with *arthālaṃkāras*.

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¹ e.g. *IOC* iii p. 336, ends with *atiśayôkti* at fol. 72a Madras *Trm A* 1104; *ŚgŚ* ii p. 82.

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² ed. *Kāvyamālā* 38, 1907. In the text published in the *Pandit* xiii, the work ends with *utprekṣā*, and the *atiśayôkti* is wanting.

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*apyardha-citramīmāṃsā na mude kasya māṃsalā*
*auūrur iva gharmāṃśor ardhéndur iva dhūrjaṭeḥ,*

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which, if authentic, implies that the work was designedly left incomplete. But in some MSS there is an additional verse, which gives a list of the figures to be dealt with (*pratipādyālaṃkāra-sūci*)³, which ends with the mention of *utprekṣā*, and omits *atiśayôkti* which ought to come after it. The *Candrikā* commentary supports this tradition with the remark *utprekṣā-granthānantaraṃ citramīmāṃsā na kvāpi dṛśyate*; but the commentary of Dharānanda, son of Rānabala, includes and comments on the section on *atiśayôkti* coming thereafter. Appayya's own references to the *Citra mīmāṃsā* in *Kuvalayānanda* (pp. 78, 86, 133) relate to the treatment of the figures of *śleṣa*, *prastutāṅkura* and *arthāntara-nyāsa*, which are wanting in the present-day text. Appayya's third work, the *Vṛtti-vārttika*, which is a short dissertation, after a work called *Kāvya-saraṇi*, on the three functions of word and its sense, is also incomplete as it stands; for it consists only of two chapters on the two functions *abhidhā* and *lakṣaṇā*, and the third chapter which should deal with the third function *vyañjanā* is wanting¹.

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³ *upamā sahôpameyôpamayāthānanvayaḥ smaraṇam upaka-pariṇati-saṃsaya-bhrāntimad-ullekha-nihnavôtprekṣāḥ*. This verse occurs at the end of the text printed in the *Pandit* and in the India Office MS referred to. The MS *kha* used in the *Kāvyamālā* ed. (see p. 101 fn.) ends with *utprekṣā*.

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¹ Appayya was a very prolific writer who is reputed to have composed 104 works. For his works on Śaiva philosophy and other subjects, see Aufrecht; also *IA* xxvii (1898) p. 326f: Kṛṣṇamācārya *op. cit.* p. 168.

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Appayya's works appear to have started some controversies in his time. Thus Jagannātha, who flourished immediately after him, not only attacked Appayya in his *Rasa-gaṅgādhara* and stigmatised him as a slavish imitator of Ruyyaka and Jayaratha, but also wrote his *Citramīmāṃsā-khaṇḍana* to demolish Appayya's work of that name. Bhīmasena, in his commentary on Mammaṭa, also refers to a *Kuvalayānanda-khaṇḍana* written by himself as an attack on Appayya's other work; and we find Nīlakaṇṭha, a descendant of Appayya's, apparently taking up the cudgel to defend the fair fame of his ancestor in his *Citramīmāṃsā-doṣa-dhikkāra*.

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Among more recent writers and works cited by Appayya, we find the names of the *Sāhityacintāmaṇi*-kāra, Ratnākara, the *Alaṃkāra-sudhānidhi* and the *Kāvya-saraṇi*, the last work (of which nothing is known) being avowedly the model or source of his *Vṛtti-vārttikā*. The *Sāhitya-cintāmaṇi*, also cited by Kumārasvāmin, is probably the work of the same name by Vīranārāyaṇa (q. v., about 1400 A.D.). The Alaṃkāra-sudhānidhi is apparently the same work as cited by Kumārasvāmin at p. 44, but of this nothing is known. If the Ratnākara quoted in the Vṛtti-vārttika p. 20 be the same as Ratnākara cited extensively by Jagannātha in his two works, then it refers to the Alaṃkāra-ratnākara of Śobhākaramitra, and should be distinguished from Rasaratnākara cited by Mallinātha on Meghadūta.

The Commentators On Appayya

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The popularity of the Kuvalayānanda as a convenient manual is indicated by the many commentaries on it, the more important ones of which have been published. The Dīpikā of the poet Āśādhara, son of Rāmaji and disciple of Dharaṇidhara has been edited as well as translated. The Alaṃkāra-sudhā and Saṭpadānanda of Nāgeśa or Nāgoji Bhaṭṭa have not yet found an editor, but the Alaṃkāra-candrikā of Vaidyanātha Tatsat, son of Rāmacandra (or Rāmabuddha) and grandson of Viṭṭhala Bhaṭṭa, has been printed several times in Madras and elsewere. The more reliable commentary of Gaṅgādharādhvarin or Gaṅgādhara Vājapeyin, son of Devasimha-sumati of Bādhūla-family and pupil of Viśvarūpa Yati of Benares, probably preserves the text and the Appayya-traditions better, inasmuch as the commentator tells us that Appayya was the teacher of a brother of his grandfather, and he himself takes great pains to settle the readings of his text. Other less known commentaries are mentioned below.

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The *Citramīmāṃsā* has been commented upon by Dharānanda, son of Rāmabala of Vaśiṣṭa-gotra and grandson of Ṭhākura, who had, besides the author's father, two other sons, named Puraṇadāsa and Devadāsa. The commentator was the disciple of Paramānanda and was born in Bharatapura. He wrote also a commentary on *Mṛcchakaṭika* (*Madras Cat.* 12625).

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No commentary on the *Vṛtti-vārttika* is known.

Kuvalayānanda

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Editions. *Text only* (1) Poona 1842 (2) Bombay 1895 (3) by Subrahmaṇya Śarman with Eng. trans. and notes, Calcutta 1903. *Text with commentaries.* (1) with Candrikā of Vaidyanātha, Poona 1846, 1849, Madras 1869, 1870, 1872, 1881, 1895, Calcutta, (Jīvānanda) 1870, 1874 etc., Benares 1878, 1910, Bombay (Vāsudeva) 1877, 1885, 1912, 1913 etc. (2) with the Rasikarañjanī of Gaṅgādhara, by Hālāśyanātha Śāstrī, Kumbhakonum 1892 (3) with Alaṃkāra-dīpikā of Āśādhara, by Vāsudeva, Bombay N. S. P., 1909; the same translated into German by R. Schmidt, Berlin 1907. This enumeration is not exhaustive, as the work has been printed very often in India as a text-book Our references are to the N. S. P. ed. of 1913 by Vāsudeva, which contains also Vaidyanātha's Alaṃkāra-candrikā.

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MSS. Aufrecht i 113a, 780a ii 22b, 194b; iii 25a. The entry *Kuvalayānanda-kārikā* refers to our text (the *kārikā* portion only) which is the subject of Āśādhara's commentary.

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SCC vii 25-7; WBod 1161; KBod 505; Madras Trm A 192, B 510; WRAS 109, 127; Madras Cat. 12846-12860.

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Commentaries. (1) *Alaṃkāra-candrikā* of Vaidyanātha Tatsat (see above). Published many times with the text. MSS: Aufrecht i 113a, 780a; ii 23a, 194b; iii 25a; SCC vii 1, 29; Madras Cat. 12862-67. Mitra (in *Bik. Cat.* p. 213, no. 607) gives an entirely wrong impression of this work as well as of its original.

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(2) *Alaṃkāra-dīpikā* by Āśādhara. Printed by N. S. P. as above. MSS: Aufrecht i 113a, 780a; ii 23a. Āśādhara only comments on the *kārikās*, but he is not aware of Jayadeva's *Candrāloka*. Āśādhara also wrote *Kovidānanda* and its commentary (Aufrecht ii 25b). He should not be confused with Āśādhara who wrote a commentary on Rudraṭa (cf Aufrecht i 54b and ii 10b).

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(3) *Rasika-rañjanī* by Gaṅgādharadhvarin or Gaṅgādhara Vājapeyin. Printed from Kumbhakonum as above. MSS: Aufrecht i 113a (the attribution to Appayya himself is wrong, as corrected later), ii 22b: *Madras Trm A* 73, B 388, C 703; *Madras Cat.* 12868-70. This commentator describes Appayya as *asmat-pitāmaha-sahodara-deśikendra*; but according to tradition the commentator lived under the Tanjore prince Śhāhajī (1684-1711 A.D.). Also wrote some comms. on philosophical works.

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(4) *Alaṃkāra-sudhā* by Nāgoji Bhaṭṭa. Aufrecht i 113a (i.e. citing Kielhorn *Central Prov. Cat.* p. 98 and not p. 104), ii 23a. Nāgoji is also said to have written another commentary on *Kuvalayānanda* called *Saṭpadānanda*, or in full *Viṣamapada-vyākhyāna ṣaṭpadānanda*, Aufrecht i 113a, ii 23a, SCC viii 28. As its name indicates, the latter commentary probably deals only with difficult words and passages. The two commentaries are often confused. In this last commentary, Nāgoji refers to his *Marma-prakāśa* on Jagannātha's work. Extracts of both in Stein pp. 270-271.

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(5) *Kāvya-mañjarī* by Nyāyavāgīśa Bhaṭṭācārya (?). Aufrecht i 113a. Is he identical with Rāmacandra Nyāyavāgīśa, son of Vidyānidhi (q.v.) and author of the *Kāvya-candrikā*?

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(6) Comm. by Mathurānātha. Aufrecht i 113a. See pp. 239-40.

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(7) *ṭippaṇa* by Kuravirāma referred to in the introductory verse of his comm. on the *Viśvaguṇādarśa*, Hultzsch i extr. p. 57, no. 21. For the author see above p. 135. As Veṅkaṭadhvarin, author of the *Viśvaguṇādarśa*, is known to be a grandson of Appayya's, Kuravirāma, who commented on this poem, could not have been earlier than the middle of the 17th century.

Linked texts (11)

Rasaratnākara — Nityanātha Siddha, Sanskrit
Mṛcchakaṭika — Śūdraka, Sanskrit
Candrāloka — Jayadeva Pīyūṣavarṣa, Sanskrit
Rasagaṅgādhara — Jagannātha Paṇḍitarāja 1630, Sanskrit
Kuvalayānanda — Appayya Dīkṣita 1550, Sanskrit
Meghadūta — Kālidāsa, Sanskrit
Viśvaguṇādarśacampū — Veṅkaṭādhvarin 1630, Sanskrit
Citramīmāṃsā — Appayya Dīkṣita 1550, Sanskrit
Kovidānanda — Āśādhara, Sanskrit
Kāvyavilāsa — Rāmadeva Cirañjīva Bhaṭṭācārya 1706, Sanskrit
Citramīmāṃsākhaṇḍana — Jagannātha, Sanskrit

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c51: XXVII Appayya Diksita

Contents

XXVII Appayya Diksita

The Commentators On Appayya

Kuvalayānanda

Linked texts (11)