2023-06-05 16:38:51 by ambuda-bot
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xiv
of invention that is the privilege of the poet, he exploits Purāņic
mythology, which treats Mahāvishnu as one in essence with
Ambikā, Who herself is an integral part of Siva as Ardhanārīśvara.
It may be mentioned in passing that this freedom from narrow
sectarian bias was a notable trait of what may be regarded as the
Augustan age of Sanskrit literature in the South; Venkatādhvari
and Samarapungava Dikshita, writers of other notable Champu
works, display the same catholicity of outlook and reverence for
the Idea of the Holy.
The story of the churning of the ocean for nectar is one of
the oldest to be handled in poetry, It is to be found in the
Ramayana, the Mahabharatha and a number of Purāņas with
more or less slight variations. The swallowing of the Halahala
poison (also known as Kālakūta) by Siva is however omitted in
some of these Puranas, though mentioned in others like the
Padma and the Matsya. Only some manuscripts of the Ramayana
mention it. Both the Bharata and the Bhagavata deal with it,
while the Vishnu Purāṇa has a rather ambiguous reference to it.
Our poet follows the Devi Bhagavata version in so far as he
may be supposed to base himself on any original; but because
of the very meagreness of the Puranic material, the poet has full
scope for his invention.
This Champu has all the exuberance of youthful fancy charac-
teristic of genius, as well as some of the defects that go with it. Its
abundant wealth of learning, its rich vocabulary, with a rather
marked preference for dictionary words, its quaint conceits, its
humour and irony, as well as its uninhibited delight in rhetorical
devices of every kind, remind the reader at every turn of the
early plays of Shakespeare, notably Love's Labour's Lost.
In these repects, it offers a marked contrast to his later work
which, except for his one play, the Nalacharitra-Nataka, was
confined to poetry. That poetry is superb of its kind. It has
brevity, point and wit. One is reminded of Alexander Pope at his
best; but Nilakantha's satire is impersonal, and his irony is
never heartless. It is intellectual poetry of a very high order.
And Nilakantha, a critic of rare ability, was merciless against the
extravagances of sabdālamkāra, as may be seen from the long
passages that serve as introduction to the Siva-leelarṇava and the
Gangavataraṇa. But in this early work, in the prose part of it
especially, he partially succumbs to the charm of the yamaka-
of invention that is the privilege of the poet, he exploits Purāņic
mythology, which treats Mahāvishnu as one in essence with
Ambikā, Who herself is an integral part of Siva as Ardhanārīśvara.
It may be mentioned in passing that this freedom from narrow
sectarian bias was a notable trait of what may be regarded as the
Augustan age of Sanskrit literature in the South; Venkatādhvari
and Samarapungava Dikshita, writers of other notable Champu
works, display the same catholicity of outlook and reverence for
the Idea of the Holy.
The story of the churning of the ocean for nectar is one of
the oldest to be handled in poetry, It is to be found in the
Ramayana, the Mahabharatha and a number of Purāņas with
more or less slight variations. The swallowing of the Halahala
poison (also known as Kālakūta) by Siva is however omitted in
some of these Puranas, though mentioned in others like the
Padma and the Matsya. Only some manuscripts of the Ramayana
mention it. Both the Bharata and the Bhagavata deal with it,
while the Vishnu Purāṇa has a rather ambiguous reference to it.
Our poet follows the Devi Bhagavata version in so far as he
may be supposed to base himself on any original; but because
of the very meagreness of the Puranic material, the poet has full
scope for his invention.
This Champu has all the exuberance of youthful fancy charac-
teristic of genius, as well as some of the defects that go with it. Its
abundant wealth of learning, its rich vocabulary, with a rather
marked preference for dictionary words, its quaint conceits, its
humour and irony, as well as its uninhibited delight in rhetorical
devices of every kind, remind the reader at every turn of the
early plays of Shakespeare, notably Love's Labour's Lost.
In these repects, it offers a marked contrast to his later work
which, except for his one play, the Nalacharitra-Nataka, was
confined to poetry. That poetry is superb of its kind. It has
brevity, point and wit. One is reminded of Alexander Pope at his
best; but Nilakantha's satire is impersonal, and his irony is
never heartless. It is intellectual poetry of a very high order.
And Nilakantha, a critic of rare ability, was merciless against the
extravagances of sabdālamkāra, as may be seen from the long
passages that serve as introduction to the Siva-leelarṇava and the
Gangavataraṇa. But in this early work, in the prose part of it
especially, he partially succumbs to the charm of the yamaka-