Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c5.540

c5.540

DHANAÑJAYA IV. A Sanskrit critic who lived during the period between 11th and 12th century A.D. He was a member of the court of King Muñja. His important work is 'Daśarūpaka'. This work contains three hundred ślokas in divided into four separate divisions. After the death of Muñja, Dhanika, brother of Dhanañjaya, wrote a commentary on this work. The treatise is named 'Daśarūpāvaloka'. There are several quotations in this from the Sanskrit dramas 'Veṇīsaṃhāra' and 'Ratnāvalī'. He has in this work discussed Drama and Poetry in general giving prominence to the emotional side of it. The critical work, Daśarūpāvaloka, contains quotations from a book 'Kāvyanirṇaya' by Dhanika himself. But the work 'Kāvyanirṇaya' has not yet been made available. Even in composing poetry Dhanañjaya was well versed. He is the author of the well-known epic 'Rāghavapāṇḍavīya'. It is known as 'Dvisandhāna Kāvya' also. This is based on the lives of Pāṇḍavas and Śrī Rāma. Dhanañjaya bears the name of Śrutakīrti also. It is stated by scholars that Rāghavapāṇḍavīya was written during the period 1123 to 1140 A.D. (History of classical Sanskrit Literature).