Suvrttatilaka of Ksemendra is an important work on metrics. In this work Ksemendra's treatment of prosody is remarkable in more than one respect. As an exponent of the Aucitya school he says at the end of his Aucityavicaracarca that innumerable facets of Aucitya could be discerned. Eventually in his Suvrttatilaka he takes up Vrttaucitya (propriety of metre). He aims at originality with a vengeance as it were. Excellences and blemishes of metres are brought out prominently.
In spite of this fact a suitable edition of the Suvrttatilaka was a desideratum, particularly when the text is prescribed by the M.S. University of Baroda for the Sanskrit (Entire course) of the M.A.Examination. The nature of the subject makes it imperative for the student to look to some work for an elucidation and translation of the text. Hence an attempt has been made in the following pages to meet as far as possible, the requirements of the Suvṛttatilaka.
Suvṛttatilaka was published first in the Kavyamala Series No.2 together with the Kavikanthabharaņa and the Aucityavicaracarca and then in the Haridasa Samskrita Granthamala No. 26, also known as the Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series in 1933. The latter edition is unfortunately defective. Another edition with the Sanskrit commentary Prabha and a Hindi commentary Vibha edited by Pt. Vraja Mohana Jha was published by the Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office as Haridas Sanskrit Series No. 276 in 1968. The Text of the present edition is based on the above work. However, the editor has tried to make necessary corrections and to bring a text as authentic as possible.
The English translation of Suvṛttatilaka by Dr. Suryakanta published under the title Kşemendra Studies, as volume 91 of the Poona Oriental Series by Oriental Book Agency in 1954 has been directly reproduced. Dr. Suryakanta's work is very important in the sense that it provides a detailed study of the Suvṛttatilaka with its English translation for the first time in the English language. With regard to the translation of the Suvṛttatilaka Dr. Suryakanta says: "I may add that to render them into English has been by no means an easy task. Every translator has his limitations depending on the nature of the work he translates. As a matter of fact no translation can adequately reflect the original author's mind. Translation is at best a 'shadow', Rhythm, word order.
I. Ksemendra, His Life and Date
Ksemendra, the author of the Suvṛttatilaka holds a unique position in the history of Sanskrit Literature. He appears as a poet, a dramatist, a rhetorician,a lexicographer and a historian. He flourished in the eleventh century of the Christian era during the reign of King Ananta and his son and successor, Kalasa of Kashmir.
Ksemendra's private life like that of many other Sanskrit writers of ancient India, is shrouded in obscurity. However, some information about his ancestry and date of his literary activity can be gathered from his works and the introduction to the Avadanakalpalata written by his son, Somendra. Ksemendra was the son of Parakasendra, grandson of Sindhu (or Sindu) and the descendant of Bhogindra and Narendra, minister of King Jayapida of Kashmir; he was the brother of Cakrapala.
Ksemendra's father was renowned for his riches and munificent charities. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and brought up in an atmosphere of financial prosperity, Ksemendra had opportunity to receive the best education under the best teachers. He studied the various branches of literature under the guidance of the distinguished authorities of his time like Abhinavagupta, Gangaka and Somapada.
Ksemendra's literary activity extended from 1035 A.D. to 1066. A.D. He must have lived between 900 A.D. or 1000 A.D. and 1066 A.D. or 1070 A.D. Like his father Ksemendra was a saiva. But later on he became Vaisnava under the influence of his teacher Somapada. Buddhism also exerted some influence on the poet. He must have studied the Buddhist religion very deeply. He was so much impressed by Buddhism that he included the Buddha among the ten incarnations of Visnu. Nothing is known about Ksemendra's personal life. Neither he nor his son gives us any information on this point. Ksermendra's synthetic personality can also be judged in his works on poetics which present him before us a critic in the true sense. In Aucityavicaracarca, Kavikanthabharana and Suvṛttatilaka his synthetic approach to the art of criticism in Sanskrit Literature can be clearly adjudged. The different theories about the soul of poetry are unified in his theory of propriety which advocated 'Rasa' as the basis of poetry and 'Aucitya' as its soul. No other theory proved so comprehensive in nature. The elaborate discussion on merits and demerits of poetry were also rendered superfluous by the theory of propriety which could determine about merit and demerit. The deciding factor in matter of merit and demerit in poetry is 'propriety' which has been acknowledged as such by Mammata.
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