A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s2.85

v3.c35.s2.85

A very valuable and interesting treatise on poetics is the Kāvyamīmāṁsā of the poet Rājaśekhara². He quotes verses from his three dramas. He describes in detail as to how a sabhā should be designed. In a fuller detail he states things about poets and kings : for example, he says that Sātavāhana, the king of Kuntala, had ordered exclusive use of Prākrit in his harem and that as against this, Sāhasāṅka of Ujjayinī had ordered for exclusive use of Sanskrit. In the introduction to a printed edition, the age of Rājaśekhara has been given as 880-920 A.D., and there it has been conjectured that the stanzas on poets cited in Jalhaṇa's Sūktimuktāvalī³ have been taken from the Harivilāsa of Rājaśekhara; whilst there are others who ascribe the authorship of a work Kāvyavimarśa to him and hold that these stanzas were contained in this work. Hemacandra, as well as Vāgbhaṭa has very much used the Kāvyamīmāṁsā⁴.