काव्यमीमांसा (महाकवि राजशेखर - कवि-रहस्य एवं देश-विभाग सटीक)

XVI INTRODUCTION. besides the six already referred to.¹ In this connection attention of scholars may be drawn to a statement made by Rājaśekhara at the end of the 17th chapter of the Kāvyamīmāṁsā, to the effect that if more information is needed on the subject of world geo- graphy, a reference should be made to his Bhuvanakośa.² This has led some to conclude that Rājaśekhara wrote a separate work called the Bhuvanakośa besides the six already known. But this does not seem to be correct. The Bhuvanakośa here mentioned is the title of the 19th or the last chapter of the 1st Adhikaraṇa, and this chapter along with the other 17 Adhikaraṇas is entirely lost. If a reference is made to the list of subjects given in the first chapter of the Kavirahasya,³ it will be readily observed that Bhuvanakośa is the title of the last chapter of the first Adhikaraṇa which the author names as Kavirahasya. It may, however, be suggested that the portion of the Kāvya- mīmāṁsā beginning from the 19th chapter of the 1st Adhikaraṇa to the end was never written, and that he did not live to complete his encyclopaedic work. If this position is accepted we may hope to find one day the missing acts of the Bālabhārata from some of the still undiscovered MSS. Libraries, for it is hardly possible that our author would leave two of his works unfinished. It may be possible in modern days, but it was not so at least in ancient days. B. The Kāvyamīmāṁsā. I. Significance of the subject matter. The 7th and the 8th centuries of the Christian era in India was a period of feverish literary activity. In this period stalwarts of literature were busy in writing comprehensive works in order to reduce the different branches of study into a system. This period saw the birth of Uddyotakara, Kumārila and Śaṅkarācārya, the writers, famous for their philosophical and polemical works in Hinduism. While, on the other hand, in the field of Buddhism we

1. Many verses quoted in the anthologies may be traced out in his extant dramas and others probably belong to his lost work Haravilāsa.
2. इत्थं देशविभागो मुद्रामात्रेण सूत्रितः सुधियाम्। यस्तु जिगीषत्यधिकं पश्यतु मद्भूवनकोशमसौ ॥
3. देशकालविभागः, भुवनकोशः इति कविरहस्यं प्रथममधिकरणमित्यादि.