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

INTRODUCTION, XXXV
works. The author of the Sarasvatī-kaṇṭhābharaṇa has quoted a
few verses, which are found only in the Kāvyamīmāṁsā, and the
commentator, Ratneśvara, refers one verse to the Kāvyamīmāṁsā.
By the bye, it may be mentioned that the name of the Kāvya-
mīmāṁsākāra occurs in Śaṅkara's commentary (Rasachandrikā)
on the Śākuntala.
The origin and the promulgation of poetics. Like other
Śāstrakārās our author attributes the origin of poetics to the
Supreme Being and the celestials. Śrīkaṇṭha taught this science
to Parameshṭhi, Vaikuṇṭha and others of his sixty-four pupils.
The self-born God imparted it to His will-born pupils. Among
these was Kāvyapurusha, born of Sarasvatī. Prajāpati set him to
promulgate this science in the three worlds. He taught this to
his divine pupils in 18 Adhikaraṇas. Of these, Sahasrāksha and
other 17 pupils composed separate treatises on the portions learnt
by them. On account of these separate treatises, the science was
to some extent lost. The whole, therefore, has been abridged by
our author and set forth in one book in 18 Adhikaraṇas.
The position of poetics in literature. Our author claims
a high position for poetical science both in sacred and in profane
literature. Rhetorics, says Rājaśekhara, is the seventh Aṅga, as
without it the meanings¹ of the Vedic texts cannot be grasped. In
another place he puts literature by the side of the four profane
sciences, saying that it is the fifth² lore, and makes it the fifteenth
division of learning embodying all others.
The Kāvyapurusha. The idea of the Kāvyapurusha and
his bride Sāhityavidyāvadhū is quite novel in Saṁskṛita literature.
It seems to have been suggested by the Vedapurusha in the Ṛig-
veda, and the Vedic text "चत्वारि शृङ्गाः—" has been made to praise the
Kāvyapurusha. The Goddess of Learning was practising penance
1 “उपकारकत्वादलङ्कारः सप्तममङ्गम्” इति यायावरीयः। ऋते च तत्स्वरूपपरिज्ञानाद्वेदार्थानव-
गतिः ॥ p. 3.
2 “पञ्चमी साहित्यविद्या” इति यायावरीयः । “सकलविद्यास्थानैकायतनं पञ्चदशं काव्यं विद्या-
स्थानम्” इति यायावरीयः । p. 4.