मधुराविजयम् /89
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was subjected to untold miseries (Vide Sarga 8). Veerakamparaja
son of Bukkaraya stemmed that tide and saved the country from
them. He is the hero of this epic. This 'Madhuravijayam' is
his history. Our poetess is no other than the legally wedded queen
of that great hero. This Kavya like Mahabharata is the real
chronicle of his achievements as seen and known by her. This
(heroic consort) has immortalised the valour of her lord by
choosing his heroic military prowess as the theme of her work,
unique and unprecedented in the annals of history. Though some
works have later come into being, with the ideals alike, they are
not of heroic exploits. They differ from this as the mosquito from
the elephant. The sublimity of the descriptions, the infallibility
in poetic qualities, the intellectual heights that engulfed the entire
realm of epic poetry, envisaged in this Kavya, were never achieved
in the past and will never be achieved in the future. A poet
must be well versed or versatile in every branch of culture and
the Kavya must be an encyclopedia of all knowledge. The hero
must be the acme of perfection. The theme must be sublime or
ideal. It must parkle with subtle and edifying humour. This
Kavya is replete with every one of these characteristics and is
therefore reckoned as the foremost in the world of epic poetry.
This is also the only Kavya which rendered full justice to the
traditions of history and to the traditions of epic literature, equally,
with a high sense of propriety and without sacrificing either.
It is no exaggeration to say so. Though there are few instances
now and then of hyperbole wherein traditions of history have
been exceeded, on closer scrutiny, it is found that they are proper
and appropriate for maintaining either the heroic character of
the theme or the concept of the divinity of husbandhood
and the devotional fidelity of wifehood. In some others,
son of Bukkaraya stemmed that tide and saved the country from
them. He is the hero of this epic. This 'Madhuravijayam' is
his history. Our poetess is no other than the legally wedded queen
of that great hero. This Kavya like Mahabharata is the real
chronicle of his achievements as seen and known by her. This
(heroic consort) has immortalised the valour of her lord by
choosing his heroic military prowess as the theme of her work,
unique and unprecedented in the annals of history. Though some
works have later come into being, with the ideals alike, they are
not of heroic exploits. They differ from this as the mosquito from
the elephant. The sublimity of the descriptions, the infallibility
in poetic qualities, the intellectual heights that engulfed the entire
realm of epic poetry, envisaged in this Kavya, were never achieved
in the past and will never be achieved in the future. A poet
must be well versed or versatile in every branch of culture and
the Kavya must be an encyclopedia of all knowledge. The hero
must be the acme of perfection. The theme must be sublime or
ideal. It must parkle with subtle and edifying humour. This
Kavya is replete with every one of these characteristics and is
therefore reckoned as the foremost in the world of epic poetry.
This is also the only Kavya which rendered full justice to the
traditions of history and to the traditions of epic literature, equally,
with a high sense of propriety and without sacrificing either.
It is no exaggeration to say so. Though there are few instances
now and then of hyperbole wherein traditions of history have
been exceeded, on closer scrutiny, it is found that they are proper
and appropriate for maintaining either the heroic character of
the theme or the concept of the divinity of husbandhood
and the devotional fidelity of wifehood. In some others,