caturmukhamukhambhoja vanahamsa vadhur mama//
manase ramatam nityam sarvasukla Sarasvati//
With the benediction of great rhetorician Dandin, I bow down at the feet of goddess Sarasvati, the goddess of learning who always a source of inspiration for completion of this work.
The Indian cultural diaspora has been enriched by the vast literary treasure. Starting from the Vedic period, the Indian mind is always engaged in research and innovation of new ideas. The authors and poets have composed a number of works/texts in different languages and the flow still continues. In this connection the Sanskrit language plays an important role in development of the Bharatiya cultural and literary heritage. In the tradition of sastra, the kavyasastra or the poetics which deals with various aspects of literary compositions also finds a place in the world of knowledge tradition. The Kavyanavanita is a work on Sanskrit poetics and the author is Krsnavadhuta. The text incorporates various concepts viz. riti, vrtti, guna, alankara, kavya and its division with examples. The present study is on the text Kavyanavanita and an attempt has been made to propagate the ideas nourished by Krsnavadhuta. The study also highlights the similar views of other prominent thinkers on some of the concepts. If the book will satisfy the aspirations of the scholars, then it will be a great satisfaction.
jayanti te sukrtino rasasiddhah kavisvarah/
nasti tesan yasah kaye jaramaranajam bhayam//
(Bhartrhari)
The Sanskrit literary tradition has been nourished by the contributions of poets from time immemorial. The poets are the creators of their own world of wisdom. They live their life sophisticatedly and nurture the society by their compositions. The poets are scholar par excellence and they don't have fear of old age or death. Not only they exhibit their poetic excellence in their works but also they adopt the cultural paradigm in their respective compositions. The poet is known by his work as he lives with the prime and foremost duty to compose the poems (kaveh karma kavyam). The Kavyanavanita or the Butter of the Kavya is a work on Sanskrit poetics. The author krsnavadhuta (19th century) has to his credits more than 51 works of multiple disciplines. The point to be noted that instead of mere adding the examples at some places he justifies by referring his own works. In addition to this the author tries to incorporate various idioms of Sanskrit literary criticism to exhibit it in a simpler way, so that the work will be appreciated by one and all.
An attempt has been made by Dr. Kumuda Prasad Acharya to work on a topic which is not accessible to the public. He has edited the work based on a single manuscript and also done the extensive study on the text with a comparative approach. Different concepts of the present text have been discussed with the insights from other ancient texts like Kavyalankara of Bhamaha, Kavyaprakasa of Mammata, Sahityadarpana of Visvanatha, Tarkasangraha of Annam Bhatta etc.
Certainly the present study will be beneficial for the scholars interested in Sanskrit poetics. They will find a holistic approach made by Krsnavadhuta in a newer form. I congratulate Dr. Acharya for his enthusiasm and wish that the present book will find a place in the scholarly world.
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