signature verses

[Stella Sandahl]

Dear Jonathan,
It is common practice for  poet to insert his own name in his poem,  
usually in the last stanza in medieval North Indian poetry. This is  
called a bhaNita. Jayadeva's GItagovinda has it in practically all  
the 24 songs, and elsewhere in the poem too. I have referred to this  
in my book Le GItagovinda. Tradition et innovation dans le kAvya,  
Almquist & Wiksell, Stockholm 1977, pp. 128-129 and under Jayadeva in  
the Index Verborum.
Of course, Jayadeva was not a Buddhist, mais encore...
Best regards
Stella
--
Professor Stella Sandahl
Department of East Asian Studies
130 St. George St. room 14087
Toronto, ON M5S 3H1
ssandahl at sympatico.ca
stella.sandahl at utoronto.ca
Tel. (416) 978-4295
Fax. (416) 978-5711



On 24-Feb-09, at 9:26 AM, Jonathan Silk wrote:

> I seem to recall having read somewhere something about the ways in  
> which
> poets encode their names in verses. In particular, I am interested  
> in the
> case of Buddhist authors "signing" their works in, typically, a  
> closing
> verse. (I think I recall an example from Candrakīrti....?) I'm  
> pretty sure
> I've read something about this, but can't for the life of me  
> remember more
> than that...
>
> thanks in advance for the help!  jonathan
>
> -- 
> J. Silk
> Instituut Kern / Universiteit Leiden
> Postbus 9515
> 2300 RA Leiden
> Netherlands
>