Sanskrit Criticism

This innovative study develops a unified theory of literature by critically evaluating the categories of sanskrit poetics from a single theoretical standpoint that of rasa the theory that holds that poety is essentially emotive discourse. Literature Chariargues is defined not by the use of any formal linguistic devices but rather by the emotive meaning embodied is therefore the proper aim and the common denominator of all literary works.

In the whole range of Sanskrit poetics, the term vakrokti took altogether a new significance and the highest position as the all pervading poetic concept in Kuntaka's Vakroktijivita. He revived the concept from more verbal poetic figure to the lessons of poetry. He not only explains but also explores the multi-dimensional aspects of Vakrokti. But unfortunately, no comprehensive study of Vakrokti has been done in a systematic way. This book is an effort in this direction. Presenting the major schools of Sanskrit poetics, the book gives general definition of vakrokti and its multi-dimensional implications. Further taking a close look at the views of different theorists on vakrokti, it exposes in detail kuntaka's theory of vakrokti and makes its critical analysis in relation to various literary concepts- alankara, svabhavokti, rasavadalankara, marga and rasa. Finally, it deals with the striking similarities between dhvani and vakrokti, and brings out the fundamental aspects of practical criticism as shown by kuntaka.

The book positions Sanskrit poetics in a postcolonial context to understand its contemporary relevance and proposes a productive future direction for this system of knowledge. The fundamental argument against Sanskrit poetics in modern literary circles is that it is a system of knowledge that does not have any contemporary relevance, since the idea of literature conceptualised by Sanskrit poetics is incompatible with the modern notion of literature. The general argument is that Sanskrit poetics has only the archaic value of a museum piece. This book which resists such an extremist approach to Sanskrit poetics aims to provide a new direction for Sanskrit poetics to generate new knowledge about this epistemology. The new approach that the author proposes is explicated through three major theoretical positions in Sanskrit poetics, namely dhvani, aucitya and vakrokti.

Study on the works of Jagannatha Panditaraja.

In course of his studies in Sanskrit literature and research relating to various aspects of it, the author of the present work often felt the need of a vade mecum containing brief accounts of authors and works, information about the principal characters of Sanskrit plays, poems and prose works, the meaning of certain technical terms in common use, the common geographical names and the notable myths and legends. A Companion to Sanskrit Literature, the first work of its kind, covers a period of nearly 3500 years from the Vedic age down to the modern times. It seeks to acquaint the reader, within a brief compass, with the contents of outstanding works and authors in Sanskrit literature, followed by up-to-date bibliographies. Brief accounts of the important character in well-known poems, dramas and prose works have also been given. Important geographical names, with their modern identification as far as practicable, have also been laid down. Common technical terms, used in the different branches of Sanskrit literature, have been briefly explained, Prominent figures in myths and legends have been dealt with. In a number of appendices, various kinds of useful information about Sanskrit literature including sciences, sports and pastimes, etc. in ancient and medieval India have been set forth. It is an indispensable vade mecum for the general readers, the specialists and researchers. It is like a capsule taking the reader through the vast firmament of Sanskrit literature up to remote ages. -- Amazon.com.

Taken in conjunction with my sanskrit Drama, published in 1924, this work covers the field of Classical Sanskrit Literature, as opposed to the Vedic Literature, the epics, and the Puranas. To bring the subject-matter within the limits of a single volume has rendered it necessary to treat the scientific literature briefly, and to avoid discussions of its subject-matter which appertain rather to the historian of grammer, philosophy, law, medicine, astronomy, or mathematics, than to the literary historian. This mode of treatment has rendered it possible, for the first time in any treatise in English on Sanskrit Literature, to pay due attention to the literary qualities of the Kavya. Though it was to Englishmen, such as Sir William Jones and H. T. Colebrooke, that our earliest knowledge of Sanskrit poetry was due, no English poet shared Goethe`s marvellous appereciation of the merits of works known to him only through the distorting medium of translations, and attention in England has usually been limited to the Vedic literature, as a source for comparative philology, the history of religion, or Indo-European antiquities; to the mysticism and monism of Sanskrit philosophy; and to the fables and fairy-tales in their relations to western parallels. The neglect of Sanskrit Kavya is doubtless natural. The great poets of India wrote for audiences of experts; they were masters of the learning of their day, long trained in the use of language, and they aim to please by subtlety, not simplicity of effect. They had at their disposal a singularly beautiful speech, and they commanded elaborate and most effective metres. Under these circumstances it was inevitable that their works should be difficult, but of those who on that score pass them by it may fairly be said ardua dum metuunt amittunt vera viai. It is in the great writers of Kavya along, headed by Kalidasa, that we find depth of feeling for life and nature matched with perfection of expression and rhythm. The Kavya literature includes some of the great poetry of the world, but it can never expect to attain wide popularity in the West, for it is essentially untranslatable German poets like Ruckert can, indeed, base excellent work on Sanskrit originals, but the effects produced are achieved by wholly different means, while English efforts at verse translations fall invariably below a tolerable mediocrity, their diffuse tepidity contrasting painfully with the brilliant condensation of style, the elegance of metre, and the close adaptation of sound to sense of the originals. I have, therefore, as in my Sanskrit Drama, illustrated the merits of the poets by Sanskrit extracts, adding merely a literal English version, in which no note is taken of variations of text or renderings. To save space I have in the main dealt only with works earlier than A.D. 1200, though especially in the case of the scientific literature important books of later date are briefly noticed. This book was sent in completed for the press, in January 1926 but pressure of work at the University Press precluded printing until the summer of 1927, when it wa deemed best, in order not to delay progress, to assign to this preface the notice of such new discoveries and theories of 1926 and 1927 as might have permanent interest.