The Karaka Theory

Language: EnglishPages: 199About the BookThere has been a steady flow of scholarship dealing with the karaka theory as expounded in various grammatical works. The purpose of the present book is to conduct a searching examination into a text which has received little attention from Paninian scholars and whose voice has remained unfamiliar, the Bhattikavya. One can see from Bhatti's illustrations of the karaka rules how he interprets them, and also how he interweaves the illustrations with the Rama story in his poetic work, which is intended as a textbook on Sanskrit grammar. In the introductory section, an outline of the Bhattikiivya and a summary of the author's findings in his previous work written in Japanese on this kavya (2017, Kyoto: Hozokan) are given. The present volume also includes two appendices that take up related questions concerning poetic composition and Vedic usage.About the AuthorYuto Kawamura was born in Japan in 1986. He received a doctorate in letters from Hiroshima University in 2013, under the guidance of Professor Hideyo Ogawa. Yuto Kawamura is currently a research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Since 2015, he has been teaching at Kyoto University, where he is a lecturer of Indological Studies.ForewordTHE preeminent poem of the kavyasastra literary form associated with Paninian grammar is Bhatti's Bhattikavya (alias Ravanavadha). Ksemendra (Suvrttatilaka 3.4cd: bhattibhaumokakavyadi kavyasa-stram pracaksate) refers to this work and Bhaumaka's poem (Ravana- rjuniya), at the head of works which are called kavyasastram. Another famous kavyasastra, illustrating the dhatupatha as transmitted by Bhimasena, is Narayana Bhattatiri's Dhatukavya, which has been well edited, with two commentaries, by S. Venkitasubramonia Iyer (T