Kavirahasya, “The Secret of Poets”: Rājaśekhara’s View on Poetry

Abstract

In the tenth century AD, a Sanskrit poet Rājaśekhara composed a peculiar text, the Kāvyamīmāṃsā, “Investigation in Poetry”. In this work he proposed a new, fresh approach to literature: kāvya as a sphere of life rather than mere theory of figuration, alaṅkāraśāstra. This paper will concentrate on the Kavirahasya, the first chapter of the Kāvyamīmāṃsā, describing a poet and his place in the world of literature.

Keywords

• Rājaśekhara
• Kāvyamīmāṃsā
• Kavirahasya
• alaṅkāraśāstra
• kāvya
• Sanskrit poetics