A few questions - kavirAjamArga

[Kowshika Ramaprasad]

>A few questions for the Tamil/Kannada experts and Sinhalese > history
experts:

   Although I am not an expert, I thought I can put some light :-))

>
>4. Is there an English translation of the 9th century kannaDa work,
>"kavirAjamArga"..Can somebody give me good references to this >
work/tell >me more about it....

   I'm not aware of availability of English translation of kavirAja
mArga.
   At least I can give some details about this work. The earliest
   available Kannada work, this happens to be a treatise on the
   poetry. As the name suggests , it tries to give a path for the poets.
   It has been largely inspired by by Dandi's Kavyadarsha and
Bhamaha's work(I do notknow the name). It mentions several
   poets and kAvyas before its tiem  and 'pazhaya' ( old) Kannada
literature and pushes the date of literary activities in Kannada by
about a century or two.

   A lot of debate has gone about the author. One school says it
   was written by Srivijaya,  ( references can be seen to "srivijaya's
   kavi mArga" in 12th century Shabda mani darpana - the first
   book about Kannda grammer) a poet in the court of Rashtrakuta
king  Amoghavarsha Nripatunga (808 - 864 AD) while the other
school believes it to be a work of the king Amoghavarsha himself.

   The work describes diffferent  styles,do's and dont's for poets.
   Some people  believe that the examples given in Kaviraja marga to
   be from earlier Kannada works while some others think they
   were written by the author himself to illustrate his point.

   And  also interesting to note that both the land and  the language
are called Kannada. The author assigns the area between the
Kaveri and Godavari as the "Kannada".  And assigns the present       day
north Karnataka as the heartland of Kannada culture.

   Regards,

   Ramaprasad K V


>
>Regards,
>Krishna
>
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