काव्यमीमांसा (महाकवि राजशेखर - कवि-रहस्य एवं देश-विभाग सटीक)

FIRST ADHYĀYA 117
l. 2. चतुःषष्टये। Here the number 64 is exceedingly interesting.
The Pāñcālas used the number 64 in their classifications. Ṛgveda
has been divided into 64 Adhyāyas comprising 8 Aṣṭakas of 8
Adhyāyas each. Vātsyāyana in his Kāmasūtra mentions 64
Upavidyās of his own and 64 Kalās of the Pāñcālas and divides the
whole s'āstra into 64 Prakaraṇas (V. S. 1. 3. 14-17 and 2. 2. 3-4)
Bharata in his Nāṭyaśāstra enumerates 64 Nāṭyāṅgās and S'āradā-
tanaya divides countries in the Bhāratavarṣa into 64 in his
Bhāvaprakāśana. It seems to be a remnant of an old custom to
divide a subject into eight just as Pāṇini did in his Aṣṭādhyāyī.
In giving the number 64 to the disciples of S'rīkaṇṭha, it appears
that Rājaśekhara also followed the same tradition. His eight
kinds of poets and 32 kinds of Kāvyārthaharaṇas or plagiarisms
(p. 65) also show his leaning towards the same tradition.
l. 3. सारस्वतेयः etc. The story of Sārasvateya—Kāvyapuruṣa,
as one of the originators of the Kāvyamīmāṁsā, seems to have
been borrowed by Rājaśekhara from the Harṣacarita of Bāṇa.
Bāṇa, in his auto-biography found a Sārasvateya the son of
Sarasvatī and Dadhīca Bhārgava, through whom Vatsa, the first
male representative of his family, got the knowledge of all sciences
and the Vedas.
The origin of this story of Sārasvateya is traceable in many
Purāṇas. But they differ from one another in many respects.
Bāṇa and Rājaśekhara seem to have mainly followed the Vāyu-
purāṇa for this idea of Sārasvateya as the version preserved
in this Purāṇa agrees mainly with that given in their works.
The special leaning of Rājaśekhara towards the Vāyupurāṇa is also
demonstrated by his references to that Purāṇa later on on page
28 l. 12. According to the Vāyupurāṇa Bhṛgu or Kavi, the first
son of Brahman, had Cyavana as his son through Paulomī, and
this Cyavana also had two sons Dadhīca and Ātmavāna through
Sukanyā. Dadhīca married Sarasvatī and got a Sārasvateya
as his son who was learned in all S'āstras through the blessings
of his mother, but was childless. Ātmavāna, the brother of
Dadhīca, on the other hand, got the sons Aurva and others and
through them the family of Bhṛgu expanded. In this family was
born Vatsa the Mūlapuruṣa of the Vātsyāyana Gotra to which
Bāṇa also belonged (vide, Vāyu. Adh. 65). Bāṇa followed the
same succession list as found in the Vāyupurāṇa in the 1st chap-