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vi
and the Sanskrit fables, that the Campu should have emerged as
a recognised literary kind before the seventh century A.D. is quite
obvious from the clear recognition of this type by Dandin in his
Kavyadarsa"". However, the earliest of the
Campus, which have been definitely known so far, are all of them
mediocre productions of the tenth century A.D.-the Nala Campū
by Trivikrama Bhaṭṭa of A.D. 950, the Yasastilaka by Somadeva
of A.D. 959, and perhaps also the Jivandharacampū of Haricandra.
Of these, though the last-mentioned work has the greatest claim
to intrinsic literary worth, none could be said to rise appreciably
above the level of mediocrities and all seem to suffer more or less
through the Sleşa and citra obsessions resulting from unavailing
and ill-proportioned attempts at securing Bana's inimitable
brilliance. If the later Rāmāyaṇacampū attributed to Bhoja, in
spite of its lackadaisical style, and the much later Bharatacampū
of Ananta Bhaṭṭa, in spite of its numerous solecistic lapses and
queer conceits, still continue to be popular among Indian
students of Sanskrit Literature, it is rather due to the perennial
Interest of the happy motif and theme of the monumental
epics of Valmiki and Vyasa. The latter-day Viśvaguṇādarśa of
Venkatadhvarin is a very interesting, original and remarkable
production of the Campū type, which is sure to be appreciated
by its readers as a repository of forcible but heavily riming,
ornate but satirical gnomes put into the mouth of a fictitious
Swift-like misanthrope called Kṛśānu, agreeably diversified by
the generous though laboured pronouncements of another ficti-
tious character-Vis'vāvasu. But the inquisitorial attitute generally
assumed by Venkaṭādhvarin towards the contemporary commu-
nities of South India seems to have betrayed him not unoften
into an ill-disguised exhibition of a desire to provide in his
Viévaguņādarśa something like a literary purgatory to the South
Indian souls. The Nilakaṇṭhavijaya Campū, happily free from
these defects, a really delightful honey-grape mixture, was pro-
duced by Sriman Nilakaṇṭhadīkṣita in A.D. 1637-8, after the lapse
of 4738 years in the Kali Era.
अष्टत्रिंशदुपस्कृतसप्तशताधिकचतुस्सहस्रेषु ।
कलिवर्षेषु गतेषु प्रथितः किल नीलकण्ठविजयोऽयम् ॥ १० ॥
(नीलकण्ठ विजय: - आ० १)
There are luckily available several important particulars
concerning the life and age of Sri Nilakantha Dikşita. The
and the Sanskrit fables, that the Campu should have emerged as
a recognised literary kind before the seventh century A.D. is quite
obvious from the clear recognition of this type by Dandin in his
Kavyadarsa"". However, the earliest of the
Campus, which have been definitely known so far, are all of them
mediocre productions of the tenth century A.D.-the Nala Campū
by Trivikrama Bhaṭṭa of A.D. 950, the Yasastilaka by Somadeva
of A.D. 959, and perhaps also the Jivandharacampū of Haricandra.
Of these, though the last-mentioned work has the greatest claim
to intrinsic literary worth, none could be said to rise appreciably
above the level of mediocrities and all seem to suffer more or less
through the Sleşa and citra obsessions resulting from unavailing
and ill-proportioned attempts at securing Bana's inimitable
brilliance. If the later Rāmāyaṇacampū attributed to Bhoja, in
spite of its lackadaisical style, and the much later Bharatacampū
of Ananta Bhaṭṭa, in spite of its numerous solecistic lapses and
queer conceits, still continue to be popular among Indian
students of Sanskrit Literature, it is rather due to the perennial
Interest of the happy motif and theme of the monumental
epics of Valmiki and Vyasa. The latter-day Viśvaguṇādarśa of
Venkatadhvarin is a very interesting, original and remarkable
production of the Campū type, which is sure to be appreciated
by its readers as a repository of forcible but heavily riming,
ornate but satirical gnomes put into the mouth of a fictitious
Swift-like misanthrope called Kṛśānu, agreeably diversified by
the generous though laboured pronouncements of another ficti-
tious character-Vis'vāvasu. But the inquisitorial attitute generally
assumed by Venkaṭādhvarin towards the contemporary commu-
nities of South India seems to have betrayed him not unoften
into an ill-disguised exhibition of a desire to provide in his
Viévaguņādarśa something like a literary purgatory to the South
Indian souls. The Nilakaṇṭhavijaya Campū, happily free from
these defects, a really delightful honey-grape mixture, was pro-
duced by Sriman Nilakaṇṭhadīkṣita in A.D. 1637-8, after the lapse
of 4738 years in the Kali Era.
अष्टत्रिंशदुपस्कृतसप्तशताधिकचतुस्सहस्रेषु ।
कलिवर्षेषु गतेषु प्रथितः किल नीलकण्ठविजयोऽयम् ॥ १० ॥
(नीलकण्ठ विजय: - आ० १)
There are luckily available several important particulars
concerning the life and age of Sri Nilakantha Dikşita. The