2023-06-05 16:38:48 by ambuda-bot
This page has not been fully proofread.
ix
Press, Srirangam. These are seven—the Kalividambana, and the
Sabharañjana of caustic gnomes, the Santivilása and the Vairāgya.
śataka of a supreme quietistic thrill, the Anandasāgarastava and
the Sivotkarşamañjari-two brilliant devotional lyrics addressed
respectively to the Beloved Mother and Father of the universe;
and the Anyāpadeśas'ataka, a centum of gnomic allegories full of
dignified wit and wisdom. His larger works are his two Mahā-
kavyas-the Sivalīlārņava in twenty-two cantos published by the
Sri Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam, and the Gangavataraṇa published
by the Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay, besides the Nīlakantha-
vijayacampū, now published, the Nalacaritanātaka, and a
commentary on Kaiyaṭa's Mahābhaṣyapradīpa yet unpublished.
Nilakaṇṭha Dikşita is equally great as an art-critic and as an
artist, an eminently practical Alamkārika whose literary example
is always in delightful unison with the high ideal of poetry
revealed in his critical precepts. To realise this, one has but to
read the first canto of the Sivalīlārņava, and in the light of the
canons enunciated therein, to examine the further cantos of that
work or his other productions. That he set up a very high
standard of poetry would be quite apparent from these extracts :
वक्रोक्तयो यत्र विभूषणानि वाक्यार्थबोध: परमप्रकर्षः ।
अर्थेषु बोध्येष्वभिषैव दोषः सा काचिदन्या सरणिः कवीनाम् ॥ १९ ॥
कृते युगे व्यञ्जनयावतीर्णं त्रेतायुगे सैव गुणीबभूव ।
आसीतृतीये तु युगेऽर्थचित्रं युगे तुरीये यमकप्रपञ्चः ॥ ३८ ॥
दिष्टयाधिरूढाः कविताधिराज्यं धीरा रमन्ते न हि शब्दचित्रे ।
स्वर्गेऽपि गत्वाऽप्सरसां निवासे काणैव किं कापि गवेषणीया ॥ ३९ ॥
(शिवलीलार्णव:- सर्ग० १)
देवानामपि दैवतं गुरुमपि प्राचां गुरूणामिह
श्रीमन्तं मदनान्तकं कथमपि स्तोतुं कृतो निश्चयः ।
तेन त्वां त्वरयामि भारति बलात्कृष्टापि दुष्टे पथि
प्रासेनोपहतापि जातु कुपिता मा स्म प्रसादं त्यजः ॥ ७ ॥
(नीलकण्ठविजय: - आ० १)
It would also be manifest that, as a literary artist, his greatest
achievement lies in effecting a complete synthesis between the
II
Press, Srirangam. These are seven—the Kalividambana, and the
Sabharañjana of caustic gnomes, the Santivilása and the Vairāgya.
śataka of a supreme quietistic thrill, the Anandasāgarastava and
the Sivotkarşamañjari-two brilliant devotional lyrics addressed
respectively to the Beloved Mother and Father of the universe;
and the Anyāpadeśas'ataka, a centum of gnomic allegories full of
dignified wit and wisdom. His larger works are his two Mahā-
kavyas-the Sivalīlārņava in twenty-two cantos published by the
Sri Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam, and the Gangavataraṇa published
by the Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay, besides the Nīlakantha-
vijayacampū, now published, the Nalacaritanātaka, and a
commentary on Kaiyaṭa's Mahābhaṣyapradīpa yet unpublished.
Nilakaṇṭha Dikşita is equally great as an art-critic and as an
artist, an eminently practical Alamkārika whose literary example
is always in delightful unison with the high ideal of poetry
revealed in his critical precepts. To realise this, one has but to
read the first canto of the Sivalīlārņava, and in the light of the
canons enunciated therein, to examine the further cantos of that
work or his other productions. That he set up a very high
standard of poetry would be quite apparent from these extracts :
वक्रोक्तयो यत्र विभूषणानि वाक्यार्थबोध: परमप्रकर्षः ।
अर्थेषु बोध्येष्वभिषैव दोषः सा काचिदन्या सरणिः कवीनाम् ॥ १९ ॥
कृते युगे व्यञ्जनयावतीर्णं त्रेतायुगे सैव गुणीबभूव ।
आसीतृतीये तु युगेऽर्थचित्रं युगे तुरीये यमकप्रपञ्चः ॥ ३८ ॥
दिष्टयाधिरूढाः कविताधिराज्यं धीरा रमन्ते न हि शब्दचित्रे ।
स्वर्गेऽपि गत्वाऽप्सरसां निवासे काणैव किं कापि गवेषणीया ॥ ३९ ॥
(शिवलीलार्णव:- सर्ग० १)
देवानामपि दैवतं गुरुमपि प्राचां गुरूणामिह
श्रीमन्तं मदनान्तकं कथमपि स्तोतुं कृतो निश्चयः ।
तेन त्वां त्वरयामि भारति बलात्कृष्टापि दुष्टे पथि
प्रासेनोपहतापि जातु कुपिता मा स्म प्रसादं त्यजः ॥ ७ ॥
(नीलकण्ठविजय: - आ० १)
It would also be manifest that, as a literary artist, his greatest
achievement lies in effecting a complete synthesis between the
II