Education for the Sanskrit Poets Tradition and Progress

Abstract

With a great heritage of its own, the origin of Sanskrit is traced back to the newlineperiod of the Vedas. The and#7770;gveda is the oldest of the Vedas (and#7770;gveda, Yajurveda, newlineSand#257;maveda, Atharva-veda) which treasures the most ancient literary wisdom of newlinemankind. The Saand#7745;hitand#257;s, the Brand#257;hmaand#7751;as, the and#256;raand#7751;yakas, and the Upaniand#7779;ads which newlineare the different stages of gradual growth of all the Vedas contribute to Indian newlineliterary heritage and serve as the guiding force to the growth of epics like the newlineRand#257;mand#257;yaand#7751;a and the Mahand#257;bhand#257;rata. These epics subsequently contributed to the newlinegrowth and development of ornate poetry (kand#257;vyas). Thus a vast gamut of literature newlinecreated provision for expounding the principles of the nature of poetry and its newlinecompositions through the texts known as Alaand#7745;kand#257;raand#347;and#257;stras. Bharata s Nand#257;and#7789;yaand#347;and#257;stra newline(1st century B.C) is a landmark on the theory of dramatic literature. However, out newlineof the extant texts on Sanskrit poetics Bhand#257;maha s (7th century A. D) Kand#257;vyand#257;laand#7745;kand#257;ra newlineis the first and the fore most formal text on Sanskrit literary theory and criticism newlinewhich presents kand#257;vya (poetry/literary discourse) to be completely different from newlinevand#257;rtand#257; or ordinary communication (Bhand#257;maha, 2.87). The rhetoricians equate the newlinekand#257;vya with a humanbeing (kand#257;vyapuruand#7779;a) having words and meanings for its body. newlineBut the search for the soul of poetry was speculative which gradually gave rise t newline