About the Book The Haravijaya of Ratnakara is an epic poem (mahakavya) belonging to the cra of artificial poetry. The poem is preceded by the Mahakavyas namely, the Kiratarjuniya of Bharavi and the Simpalavadha of Magha. The artificia lity from the Kiratarjuniya, got deve loped in the Sisupalavadha and riche its climax in the Haravijaya. In the artificial type of poetry, the descriptions of battles, cities, oceans, rivers, moun tains, seasons, sun-rise, moon-rise, love-sports and the like, which should have been only to support the theme and the sentiment of the Kavya, became more elaborated and received more attention of the poets than the theme itself. The Haravijaya exceeds the two Mahakavyas in the richness of fancy. Our poet has got wonderful skill in presenting one thing in various novel ways and in giving to his poetry an artistic touch with his many faceted scholarship and fine fancies.
Introduction The Haravijaya of Ratnakara is an epic poem (maha Aya) belonging to the era of artificial poetry. The poem is preceded by the Mahakavyas namely, the Kiratarjunlya of Bharavi and the Sisupalavadha of Magha. The artificiality from the Kirätarjuniya, got developed in the Sisupalavadha and riche its climax in the Haravijaya. In the artificial type of poetry, the descriptions of battles, cities, oceans, rivers, mountains, seasons, sun-rise, moon-rise, love-sports and the like, which should have been only to support the theme and the sentiment of the Kavya, became more elaborated and received more attention of the poets than the theme itself. The Haravijaya exceeds the two Mahakavyas in the richness of fancy. Our poet has got wonderful skill in presenting one thing in various novel ways and in giving to his poetry an artistic touch with his many faceted scholarship and fine fancies. In the employment of many varieties of metres and the pictorial figures, the Haravijaya excells both the kavyas. The Sisupalavadha and the Haravijaya have likeness in some descriptions too. The descriptions of city, mountain, march of army, six seasons, sports in water, sun-set, dawn, sports in forest, the drinking of wine, speeches and battle of the Haravijaya are similar to those of the Sisupala. The excellence of the Haravijaya is appreciated by Rajasekhara. He says that the kavya literature was not fully bloomed before the composition of this work. Even the four great poets, namely, Kalidasa, Bharavi, Bhatti and Magha, who are regarded as the four oceans of knowledge, could not furnish poetry with its perfection. Therefore, God had to create the fifth ocean of knowledge in the form of Ratnakara, who, by means of his Haravijaya, made the poetic literature reach its completion.
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