काव्यालङ्कार- Kavya Alankara

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I have much pleasure in contributing a brief Foreword to this edition of Bhamahalamhkara which my young colleagues-Pandit Batuknath S'arma and Pandit Baldeva Upadhyaya-have prepared for the Kashi Sanskrit Series. As is well-known this work was first published many years ago as an appendix in Mr: K.P.Trivedi's edition of the Prataparudra-Yasobhusana in the Bombay Sanskrit Series. But considering its interesting contents and the place of Bhamaha in the history of Indian Poetics, it was rather strange that no Indian scholar or publisher should have thought of bringing it out, until now, as a separate volume.

The editors of this new publication have fitted up the text with an exhaustive Introduction, in which they have reviewed all the existing literature relating to the religion, date and works of Bhamaha. The controversies, which arose almost immediately after the publication of Mr. Trivedi's Appendix, were soon lost in the din of the battle which raged fiercely round the " Plays of Bhasa ". But since the latter has now subsided, at least for the time being, the Bhamaha, problems have a chance of being taken up again and carried nearer the solution if possible. WAS BHAMAHA A BUDDHIST? It may readily be admitted that the word occurring in the mangalacharana of Kavyalaitikara may mean " Siva " as the word is one of the synonyms of the god, according to Amarakoia Moreover, if the source of Amara's statement be investigated, it will probably be found in the religio-philosophical system in which the Omniscient God of 'the Nyayadariana was identified with the Sivavof Saiva Agama. Severtheless, it may be pertinent to inquire whether the word is used, in any of the mangalacharws which we know of, in a sense other than that of Jina or Buddha, which, too, are rivoghised senses of the word.

**Contents and Sample Pages**