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Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c53: XXVIII Jagannatha

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c53

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XXVIII Jagannatha

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In his *Bhāminī-vilāsa*, Jagannātha tells us¹ that he passed his youth under the patronage of the emperor of Delhi, from whom, we are told elsewhere, he received the title of Paṇḍitarāja². This emperor seems to have been Shāh Jahān, whose son Dārā is eulogised in Jagannātha’s *Jagadābharaṇa*. He also seems to have lived under the protection of Nawāb Asaf Khān (d. 1641), a nobleman in the Court of Shāh Jahān, in whose praise he wrote his *Āsapha-vilāsa* and who is also referred to in a verse quoted in his *Rasa-gaṅgādhara* (p. 166). In the latter work, there is also a reference in a verse (p. 521) to Nuradīna which is apparently the Sanskritised form of one of the names of Jahāngīr, Shāh Jahān’s father. Shāh Jahān came to the throne in 1628 A.D., and was thrown into prison in 1658 A.D. It appears that while Jagannātha's younger days were passed under this emperor, Dārā-shikoh (d. 1659 A.D.) who came into power during the latter days of his father's reign, was his real patron. It is not unlikely, therefore, that Jagannātha's literary activity lay in the second and third quarters of the 17th century. Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa commented upon his *Rasa-gaṅgādhara* in the beginning of 18th century, while Jagannātha himself attacks Appayya Dīkṣita who lived in the third quarter of the 16th century.

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¹ *dillīvallabha-pāṇipallava-tale nītaṃ navīm vayaḥ*, ed. Granthamālā vol. iv *śl* 32. This verse is wanting in the N.S.P. ed. 1894. The Granthamālā text is published with the comm. of Mahādeva Dīkṣita who claims to be a grandson of Jagannātha himself.

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² See citation from *Āsapha-vilāsa* given in introd. to Kāvyamālā ed. of *Rasa-gaṅgādhara* p.2 fn. ; also Nāgeśa on *Rasa-gaṅg* p.3. The poet Paṇḍita-rāja, cited in the anthology *Padyāmṛta-taraṅgiṇī* of Hari-bhāskara, whose commentary on the *Vṛtta-ratnākara* was composed in 1676 A.D. (Bhandarkar, *Rep.* 1877-91, p. lxii and *Rep.* 1883-84. p. 60) is probably our author. There is also a commentator on Mammaṭa named Paṇḍitarāja (q.v.) who is different author. Aufrecht (ii 40a), making a confusion between the two, attributes the *Kāvya-prakāśa-ṭīkā* our Jagannātha.

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Jagannātha describes himself as the son of Peru Bhaṭṭa¹ (or Perama Bhaṭṭa²) and Lakṣmī. He was, like Appayya, a South Indian writer, being a native of Tailaṅga³ (Telegu country), and belonged to the Vegināḍa family⁴. His father was reputed for his learning, having been, as Jagannātha himself tells us⁵, taught the Vedānta by Jñānendra-vikṣu, the Nyāya-vaiśeṣika by Mahendra Paṇḍita, the Pūrva-mīmāṃsā by Khaṇḍadeva and the *Mahābhāṣya* by Śeṣa Vīreśvara. Our author learnt these subject from his father, and also from one his father's teachers, Vīreśvara. Very little is known of his personal history, although curious tales about his fondness for a Muhammadan woman, and his death by plunging into the sacred river Ganges have gathered round his name¹. Jagannātha was also the author of several poetical works², besides writing the *Rasa-gaṅgādhara*, the latest yet not the least important work on Poetics, and the *Citramīmāṃsā-khaṇḍana*. He also wrote a grammatical work, directed against Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita’s famous commentary *Manoramā*, called *Manoramā-kuca-mardana*.

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¹ *Rasa-gaṅg°* i 3

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² concluding verse to his *Prāṇābharaṇa*.

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³ *Prāṇābharaṇa* śl. 52.

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⁴ colophon to *Bhāminī-vilāsa*.

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⁵ *Rasa-gaṅg°* i 2.

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¹ Acyuta Rāya, whose *Sāhitya-sāra* is dated in 1831 A.D., discusses in his commentary on the *Bhāminī-vilāsa* the autobiographical significance of the lyrics in that work and of verses like *yavanī navanīta-komalāṅgī* often attributed to Jagannātha. See also L.R. Vaidya in the introd. to his ed. of the *Bhāminī-vilāsa*.

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² Some of these have been published by the N.S.P. For a list, see introd. to Jagannātha’s *Rasa-gaṅg°* (Kāvyamālā ed.) and Aufrecht i 196b, and Kāvyamālā pt. i. p. 79. These are (1) Amṛta-laharī (Km pt. ii) (2) Āsapha-vilāsa, praise of Āsaph Khān (3) Karuṇālaharī (Km pt. ii) (4) Gaṅgā-laharī or Piyūṣalaharī (5) Jagadābharaṇa, praise of Dārā shāh (6) Prāṇa-bharaṇa, praise of Prāṇanārāyaṇa of Kāmarūpa (Km pt. ii) (7) Bhāminī-vilāsa (8) Manoramā-kuca-mardana, against Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita’s *Manoramā* (9) Yamunā-varṇana-campū (10) Lakṣmī-laharī (Km pt. ii) (11) Sudhā-laharī (Km pt. i). Of these nos. 3, 6 and 11 are quoted in the *Rasa-gaṅg°* e.g. *śl* 60 = p. 36; *śl* 4 = p. 56; *śl.* 1 = p. 20.

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Both the rhetorical works of Jagannātha have been obtained incomplete. The printed editions of the texts of the *Rasa-gaṅgādhara* go up to the treatment of *uttarālaṃkāra* and break off with an incomplete verse; and so do most MSS noticed in the various reports and catalogues. Nāgeśa or Nāgoji Bhaṭṭa's commentary also ends with the same section. In conformity to a pun in the word *gaṅgādhara* in the title, the work was apparently planned to consist of five heads (*ānana*) or chapters, of which we have got only one complete and another incomplete chapter¹. The *Citramīmāṃsā-khaṇḍana*, directed against Appayya's work of the same name, also goes as far as the *apahnuti*-section and does not deal with *utprekṣā* and *atiśaya* which are found in some MSS of the *Citramīmāṃsā*.

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¹ It cannot be be determined whether the work was completed : but it was certainly composed before Jagannātha wrote his *Citramīmāṃsā-khaṇḍana*, the second verse of which refers to the *Rasa-gaṅgādhara*.

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Of comparatively recent writers, Jagannātha, besides citing Mammaṭa, Ruyyaka and Jayaratha extensively, refers to and quotes Vidyādhara (p. 254), Vidyānātha (p. 162) Viśvanātha (and the *Sāhitya-darpaṇa*, p. 7) and Appayya, and refers very often to the *navyāḥ*. The scathing criticism which he levels against Appayya as a slavish imitator of Ruyyaka and Jayaratha was no doubt prompted by the zeal of eclipsing the fame of another South Indian writer in the same field. Jagannātha also cites Śrīvatsa-lāñchana (p. 39), apparently the commentator on Mammaṭa, an unknown *Alaṃkārabhāṣyakāra* (pp. 239, 365, also referred to by Jayaratha), and Ratnākara (pp. 202, 207, 211, 221, 225, 281, 313, 480, 492 etc) which last name is also cited by Appayya. Jagannātha also refers to a work called *Alaṃkāra-ratnākara* (pp. 163, 165). An anonymous *Alaṃkāra-ratnākara* is mentioned in Burnell 54a; but Bühler¹ describes a work of that name by Śobhākaramitra, son of Trayīśvaramitra. Peterson informs us² that the Kashmiri poet Yaśaskara extracts some *sūtras* on *Alaṃkāra*³ from a work called *Alaṃkāra-ratnākara* by Śobhākaramitra, and illustrates them in his *Devī-stotra* by composing verses in praise of Devī, as the opening words of the latter work themselves show⁴. The work of Yaśakara in Stein is for this reason called *Alaṃkarōdāharaṇa-sannibaddha Devī-stotra*⁵. The Ratnākara of Jagannātha undoubtedly refers to this *Alaṃkāra-ratnākara* of Śobhākaramitra; for the citation from Ratnākara at p. 202 = *sūtra* 11 (as given in Peterson i p. 78).

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¹ *Kashmir Rep.* App. ii no. 228, p. cxxviii.

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² *Rep.* i p. 12.

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³ These are given in Peterson, *op. cit.* App. pp. 77-81.

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⁴ *ratnākarābhyantarato gṛhītvālaṃkāra-sūtrāṇi yathākrameṇa | bandīva devyā girirāja-putryāḥ karomi śaṃsaṃ śruti-gocarāṇi.* The commentary on this verse explains *śrī-trayīśvara-mitrātmaja-śrī-śobhākaramitra-viracite'laṃkāra-ratnākare'laṃkāra-sūtrāṇi.* The colophon to Bühler's MS of the *Alaṃkāra-ratnākara* reads *trayīśvara-mantra-putrasya* as a description of Śobhākaramitra, in which the word *mantra* is obviously a mistake for *mitra*. Stein's Jammu MS 58 reads Śobhākaramitra as the name of the author (cf also *WBod* ii 62).

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⁵ The original is also called *Alaṃkāra-ratnōdāharaṇa* and the author Śobhākarēśvara. See also Mitra 1822; Hultzsch's *Eine Sammlung ind. Handschriften* 170.

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The commentator on the *Rasa-gangādhara* is Nāgeśa or Nāgoji Bhaṭṭa, whose name we have already mentioned as a commentator on Mammaṭa, Govinda, Bhānudatta and Appayya. He was a Mahratta Brahmin (with the surname Kāla), son of Śiva Bhaṭṭa and Satī. He lived in Benares and was patronised by Rāmasiṃha of Śṛṅgavera-pura (near Allahabad). He is one of the latter-day grammarians, who composed a number of works and commentaries on grammar, poetics and philosophy. He was the pupil of Hari Dīkṣita, who was the son of Vireśvara Dīkṣita and great-grandson of Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita, the well-known author of the *Siddhānta-kaumudī*. Bhaṭṭoji is known as a pupil of Śeṣa Kṛṣṇa¹, whose son Śeṣa Vireśvara was, as we have noted, a teacher of Jagannātha himself. Nāgoji was thus separated from Jagannātha roughly by two generations, and flourished in the beginning of the 18th century. The India office MS of his commentary on

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¹ author of the *Pada-candrikā* and the *Prakriyā-prakāśa*, and son and pupil of Śeṣa Narasimha or Nṛsiṃha. See Bhandarkar *Rep.* 1883-84, p. 59. Nāgoji's relation to Jagannātha is illustrated thus :

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| | Śeṣa Vireśvara (son) | ——— | Jagannātha (pupil) |
| Śeṣa Kṛṣṇa | | | |
| | Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita (pupil) | — | Vireśvara Dīkṣita (son) | — | Hari Dīkṣita (son) | — | Nāgoji Bhaṭṭa (pupil) |

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Bhānudatta's *Rasa-mañjarī* is dated in 1712 A.D.¹ Nāgoji was also the teacher of Vaidyanātha, the Maithili grammarian, and of Gaṅgārāma, the great-grandfather of Maṇirāma (1802 A.D.).²

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¹ IOC iii p. 355. Cf Belvalkar *Systems of Sansk. Gram.* p. 49.

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² Maṇirāma wrote a commentary on Jagannātha's *Bhāminī-vilāsa* in 1802 A.D. See IOC vii p. 1526.

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Nāgoji wrote the following commentaries in poetics, as already noticed: (1) *Guru-marma-prakāśikā* on Jagannātha's *Rasa-gaṅgādhara* (2) *Bṛhat* and *Laghu Uddyota* on Govinda's *Pradīpa* on Mammaṭa (3) *Udāharaṇa-dīpikā* or *pradīpa* on Mammaṭa (4) *Alaṃkāra-sudhā* and *Viṣamapada-vyākhyāna ṣaṭpadānanda* on Appayya's *Kuvalayānanda* (5) *Prakāśa* on Bhānudatta's *Rasa-mañjarī* (6) a commentary on Bhānudatta's *Rasa-taraṅgiṇī*.

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