Present treatise is a magnum opus on Haravijaya of Ratnakara, a KaAmirian poet of the 19th cent. A.D. The study being mainly based on the internal evid-ence opens new horizons in the feild of classical Sanskrit literature and is mai-den attempt. The study begins with the life, date and scholorship of Ratnakara. It further deals with the poetic aspects with a com-perative approach. A vivid treatment of natural aspects exhibiting the poet's acqu-aintance with the vedic tradition enriches the work. Prevalent politics and the social aspects of life have also found appropriate position. Religion, mythology and philosophy, the basis of social and cultural richness of a nation have judici-ously been studied.
Dr. (Miss) Santosh Kumari Sharma (b. June 1938) having obtained her M.A. (Sanskrit) from Agra University in 1960, she was awarded Ph. D. from Banaras Hindu University in 1962 and later she was awarded D. Lit. from Agra Uni-versity in 1989. Dr. Sharma has been reader and Head of the Sanskrit Dept. M.M. Modi P.G. College, Modinagar, and thereafter Principal R.A.D. Girls college, Hathras. At present she is head-ing as a Principal M.G.P.G. Girls college, Firozabad since Dec. 1982. Dr. Sharma has been associated with numerous acedemic activities besides her teaching career. She has got published many research articles and has delivered talks on Akashavani Mathura and Delhi. A number of students has got Ph. D. under her supervision. She is convener, bourd of studies and R.D.C. Agra Univer-sity and also the president of Jila Vishva Hindu Parishad.
The present work purports to be "Haravijaya of Ratankara, a great poem, consisting of fifty'cantos of four thousand three hundred-and twenty one verses, and is ascribed to the authorship of Rajanaka Ratnakara, a Kasmirian poet of the 9th century .A.D. The poem celebrates, as the title suggests, the victory of Haralsiva) over Andhaka, the lord' of demons.
Though; much work, has been done in the field of literature in Sanskrit studies, and due notice has been taken of even obscure works of unidentified authorship and dates, it is surprising that a poem of the stature of the Haravijaya has escaped the attention of scholars. This is evidenced by the absence of any study of this work, save for a scant notice being taken of its existence.
Many are the bright gems, that lie hidden underneath the vast ocean of Sanskrit literature, awaiting the scrutiny of Indologists. It is needless to say that the Haravijaya is one of such precious gems, which have been over-looked so far. It is my humble attempt to study this magnificent work and to shed light on as many aspects of it, in as many possible -ways. A study of this nature can always be bettered, for, how can it satisfy the learned minds, which always thirst for more merits :—
"Sariatoavan bhavati ko gunavan gagesu .."
(H.V., xxxiii. 25)
I owe which to the pioneers in the study of the Haravijaya. The honour of the valuable find of the manuscript of this work, goes rightly to Buhler, who gave a brief sketch of this epic and its poetic excellence in his 'Kasmir Report', in the year 1877. Sro Durga Prasada edited the manuscript, along with Alakas commentary, from the Nirnay Sagar Press,- Bombay, in 1890, in the Kavya Mala, with due corrections aid modifications in the original text. Vallabhadeva, Aufrecht and Sridhara, and anthologists, quoted for the first time in their Anthologies, certain selected verses from the Haravijaya, and ranked Ratnakara in the galaxy of the not-able Sanskrit poets. Jacobi, in the same year of its publication, wrote an article on it. Dhruva attempted a comparative study of the dates of Mudra-Raksasa and the Haravijaya, wherein, he has shown the Haravijaya as posterior to the Mudra-Raksasa. Then, lastly, after a long breach, Shiva-swami wrote the article, 'Art Tit-Bits from Ratnakara's Haravijaya', in Krishnaswami Aiyangar's Commemoration. Volume, published in the year 1936. After this, there has fallen a curtain on its study, as it were, and we meet with no further details about this work, except its mere mention by the Historians.
I have tried to raise the edifice of my work, mainly on the basis of the internal evidences, furnished by the Hara-vijaya, edited in 1890, in the Haravijaya, edited in 1890, in the Kavyamala series of the Nirnaya Sagar Press, Bombay, because of the obvious paucity of other works in this connection.
I have limited the scope of my thesis to six chapters. The first is an attempt, on the offset, to throw light on the life, date, scholarship, fame and age of the poet Ratnakara.
The second chapter deals with the poetic aspects, which go far to determine the success of a literary composition, in all its comprehensiveness, like sentiment, rhetorical embelishments, metre, poetic merits and demerits, theme, characterization, and comparison with other previous compositions of the artistic era.
The third is based on a vivid treatment of the natural' aspects, which have lent charm to the whole poem, and have led the poet to give a free vent to his magnificent imagination. The grandeur and the realism of his descriptions reflect the age old Vedic tradition, where the sages sought their ins-piration in nature, "in the caves of mountains, and in the confluence of rivers"
`upahvare girinam samgathe ca nadinam dhiya vipro'
jayata' (Rg Veda, VIII. 2.28)
In keeping with the suggestive title of the epic Haravijaya, the fourth chapter is an endeavour to bring to light, the role of politics in all its various aspects, such as, the four fold policy (Sama, Dama, Danda and Bheda), the six attributes (Sadgunya), the methods of warfare, and the role of the king, all of which permeate the entire poem.
Since the social and the political aspects of life are always closely interwoven, the fifth chapter accounts for the depiction of the social life of the people at the time of Ratnakara.
Religion, mythology and philosophy, which reflect at all times, the social and cultural richness of a nation, which is its life-force, is taken as the subject-matter for the sixth chapter.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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