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

XXIV INTRODUCTION. Kārttikeya.¹ According to him the verse, in question, was either Rājaśekhara's own or a composition of one of his contemporaries in the court of the king Mahīpāla which he inserted in his Kāvyamīmāṁsā. Against Prof. Mirashi's theory, it may be pointed out that if the word Kārttikeya is taken out, the word Nagarastrīṇām will have to be taken as a separate and independent word. No poet, howsoever dull, would ever think of saying that the fame of a king was sung by women of the town and afterwards would leave the name of the particular town undisclosed. Nor does it seem reasonable to suppose the poet to be so particular as to exclude the village- women from participating in the praising or singing campaign, by specially naming the women of the town. It is not also possible to suppose that it is the women of the towns who took part in singing eulogies, while the village-women refrained from doing so! The expression स्त्रीणां गणैः is sufficient to include all women, both of towns and villages, and why should it be necessary to qualify स्त्रीणां with the word नगर which reduces the value of the eulogy? It is not also correct to assume that the Muktaka verse which should be complete in itself should also contain the name of the person to whom the Muktaka is addressed. On the same page 47, there are five other examples of Muktaka verse, and in none of these there is any mention of the name of the person addressed to. Under the circumstances we can only confirm the view of Messrs. Jayaswal and Bhandarkar both of whom rightly take Kārttikeyanagara as one word and identify it with the place where Rāmagupta first sustained a defeat, and later, the Khasa king was killed by Candragupta II in whose praise the verse in question is composed. Accordingly, the last lines of the verse, in question, may be translated thus: "Your fame is sung today by the women of the Kārttikeya- nagara in the same Himālayas which is resonant with the singing of the Kinnaras living in the hollows of spacious caves."

1. येनादृश्य प्रयोगं घनपुलकभृता नाटकस्यास्य हर्षात् वक्षालङ्कारहेम्नां प्रतिदिनमकृशा राशयः सम्प्रदत्ताः । तस्य क्षत्रप्रसूतेः भ्रमतु जगदिदं कार्तिकेयस्य कीर्तिः पारे क्षीराख्यसिन्धोरपि कवियशसा सार्धमग्रेसरेण ॥