The Way of the Poet-King


Poetics at the Court of Amōghavarṣa


Andrew Ollett g July 4, 2017

licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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Table of Contents

  1. The Daṇḍin Model of Poetics
  2. The Amōghavarṣa Model of Poetics
  3. Revising Dismissal (ākṣēpa-)

Acknowledgements

Yigal Bronner

Sarah Pierce Taylor

The Daṇḍin Model of Poetics

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Kāñcīpuram, around 700 CE

Place: Kāñcīpuram, city of the Pallavas

Time: around 700 CE


Daṇḍin composes his Mirror of Literature (Kāvyādarśaḥ).

Daṇḍin’s Mirror of Literature

written in Sanskrit ślokas in three chapters:

  1. The Ways of Literature (mārgavibhāgaḥ)
  2. Ornaments of Meaning (arthālaṁkāraḥ)
  3. Difficult Techniques (duṣkaraḥ)

The Amōghavarṣa Model of Poetics

Maḷkhēḍ, around 870 CE

Place: Mānyakhēṭa, city of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas

Time: around 870 CE


Śrīvijaya composes his Way of the Poet-King (Kavirājamārgaṁ) at the court of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa King Amōghavarṣa.

Śrīvijaya’s Way of the Poet-King

written in Kannada kandas in three chapters:

  1. Introduction
  2. Ornaments of Sound
  3. Ornaments of Meaning

An image of a manuscript