A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s9.89

v3.c35.s9.89

Jagannātha’s Bhāminīvilāsa³ is partly lyric and partly gnomic. We have seen above that this author was a scholar of theory of poetics and likewise a lyrist¹. Like the Śatakas of Bhartṛhari, Bhāminī-Vilāsa too contains stanzas of which the theme oscillates between morality, erotics and renunciation of the world, and it is their common feature that the text of both of them is uncertain and the number of stanzas differs in different manuscripts. The first part, of which the number of stanzas varies between 100 and 130, contains moral lessons, of which many are allegorical². The second part, of which the number of stanzas varies between 101 and 184 as in the manuscripts, contains erotic verses. The third part, consisting of only 18 to 19 strophes, is an elegy on the death of a beloved wife. And the fourth (31 to 46 stanzas) contains verses on happiness of the soul, renunciation of the world and entry into the soul of the universe identified with Kṛṣṇa. Some probese may represent the nature of poetry of Jagannātha. :