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

Rājaśekhara a Kavirāja. Rājaśekhara calls himself not a Mahākavi, but a Kavirāja.¹ According to the Kāvyamīmāṁsā there are ten² stages of poetical skill. The sixth is that of a Mahākavi³ and the seventh that of a Kavirāja. Kavirāja is defined⁴ as one who is unrestrained in various languages, various sorts of poetical compositions and various sentiments. Thus a Kavirāja is one stage further than a Mahākavi and Kavirājas are rare.⁵ The sequence of Rājaśekhara's known works and his undiscovered works. From the Karpūramañjarī 1-9, it is understood that Rājaśekhara began his literary career as a Bāla- kavi, so called from his Bālarāmāyaṇa and Bālabhārata. It is thus evident that these two dramas are his early productions; so also Viddhaśālabhañjikā. The Karpūramañjarī and the Kāvya- mīmāṁsā are his later productions, as by this time he had achieved fame as a Kavirāja. Verses from his three Saṁskṛita dramas are found quoted in the Kāvyamīmāṁsā. Hemachandra in his ⁶Kāvyānuśāsanaviveka (page 335) gives the example of Rājaśekhara's Haravilāsa as a poem bearing the name of its author. The same author quotes two verses from Haravilāsa both evidently from the first canto. The first⁷ is the benedictory verse of the poem, while the second⁸ pertains to the description of the bad and the good. ⁹Ujjvaladatta also quotes one half of a verse from the Haravilāsa. This Haravilāsa, a Mahāprabandha, must have been his 1 बालकई कइराओ ( Karpūramañjarī I. 9 ). 2 दश च कवेरवस्था भवन्ति ( p. 19 ). 3 योऽन्यतमप्रवीणः स महाकविः ( p. 19 ). 4 यस्तु तत्र तत्र भाषाविशेषेषु, तेषु तेषु प्रबन्धेषु, तस्मिंस्तस्मिंश्च रसे स्वतन्त्रः स कविराजः ( p. 19 ). 5 ते यदि जगत्यपि कतिपये ( p. 19 ). 6 स्वनामाङ्किता यथा राजशेखरस्य हरविलासे 7 आशीर्यथा हरविलासे— ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म श्रुतीनां मुखमक्षरम् । प्रसीदतु सतां स्वान्तेष्वेकं त्रिपुरुषीमयम् ॥ 8 सुजनदुर्जनस्वरूपं यथा हरविलासे— इतस्ततो भषन्भूरि न पतेत्पिशुनः शुनः । अवदाततया किञ्च न भेदो हंसतः सतः ॥ 9 दशाननक्षिप्तखुरप्रखण्डितः कचिद्गतार्धो हरदीधितिर्यथा । इति हरविलासे. ii-28.