काव्यालङ्कार (आचार्य भामह - भारतीय काव्यशास्त्र एवं अलङ्कार-सिद्धान्त मूल महाग्रन्थ सटीक)

FIRST PARICCHEDA 21
who comes later is given in Verse 23. If a person
is not intended to last down to the end of a poem or
to be crowned with success, it will be useless to refer
to him at all at the outset; for, the readers' sympa-
thies first enlisted one way will meet with a rude
shock. Daṇḍin as a reformer in the field of literary
criticism attacks this theory of Bhāmaha which
imposes restraint on the freedom of an author to
place his hero anywhere he likes and endorses his
approbation of both the methods of the treatment of
a hero in the following extract:—
नायकं प्रागुपन्यस्य गुणतस्तेन विद्विषाम् ।
निराकरणमित्येष मार्गः प्रकृतिसुन्दरः ॥
वंशवीर्यश्रुतादीनि वर्णयित्वा रिपोरपि ।
तज्जयान्नायकोत्कर्षवर्णनं च धिनोति नः ॥
(Kāvyādarśa I—21 & 22).
The first method has been resorted to in the
first and foremost Kāvya viz., Rāmāyaṇa. Rāma's
qualities are described in the first two Kāṇḍas, the
mischief of the foes in the Āraṇya Kāṇḍa, and the
plot finally works its way to the crowning victory
of Rāma in the Yuddha Kāṇḍa. In Śiśupālavadha,
Māgha expatiates upon the exploits of Śiśupāla at
the outset and then gradually works up the theme
to the final victory of Kṛṣṇa. This represents the
second of the two methods referred to herein. In
Naishadha the first method is adopted. Nala's qua-
lities form the subject-matter of the earlier portion