Indian Kavya Literature : Vol. V

by A.K. Warder

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Volume V of this study displays some of the riches and diversity of Indian culture in the ninth and tenth centuries. Most of the authors discussed aimed at bold expression, Yogesvara in describing peasant life and Vasukalpa in fanciful verses on such topics as wild landscapes and birds. Rajasekhara is better known, for his forceful expressions in plays, and Bhallata, for his satirical verses on bureaucracy. The epics of Abhinanda, Ratnakara, Sivasvamin, Buddhaghosa, Svayambhu and Puspadanta, the last two in Apabhramsa instead of Sanskrit, show the same concern for powerful expression, in a variety of individual styles and subjects. The dramatist Saktibhadra is simpler in language but bold in action. Kulasekhara contrasts a character's socially correct speech and his actual thoughts, revealed by the actor's facial expressions.

Ksemisvara uses simple but forceful language in psychological dramas of human resistance to reversals of fortune. Vajradatta's hymn to Avalokitesvara exemplifies the most difficult bold style whilst the anonymous Pali Telakatahagatha is simple but sonorous in its insistence on the transience of life. We have a novel in the bold or beautiful style by the fanciful Dhanapala and a more realistic, sometimes grim, one by Siddha. Dhanavalu writing in Apabhramsa is alternately fantastic in action and realistic in emotion and motives. The campus are evidently bold and varied, exploring language, Silanka inserting even a complete tragic play. Upatissa seeks a grand style in Pali prose for his 'biography' of an allegorical heroine. This Buddhist legend may bring us lastly to the various Buddhist and Jaina versions of the story of Rama, which take us to Tibet and Khotan, or Cambodia and Thailand, as well as India before 'Valmiki', and are more marvellous than his version followed by the old Javanese kakawin.