Visnubhattaviracita Anargharaghavapancika: The Commentary of Visnubhatta on the Anargharaghava of Murari. Critical Edition, Vol. I: the Commentary of Visnubhatta; Vol. II: the Anargharaghava of Murari As Read by Visnubhatta, Notes, Appendices (Reviews of Books) (Book Review‪)‬

Visnubhattaviracita Anargharaghavapancika: The Commentary of Visnubhatta on the Anargharaghava of Murari. Critical edition, vol. I: The Commentary of Visnubhatta; vol. II: The Anargharaghava of Murari as Read by Visnubhatta, Notes, Appendices. By HARINARAYANA BHAT. B. R. Publications du Departement d'Indologie, vol. 82.1, 2. Pondichery: INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE PONDICHERY--ECOLE FRANCAISE D'EXTREME-ORIENT, 1998. Pp. xlvi + 307, 322. Although some Western writers on Sanskrit literature have criticized Murari for what they regard as "lack of originality" and "pedantry" (e.g., Keith 1924: 229, Renou 1949: 289: on the problem of reception, see Steiner 1997: 9-10), the Murarinataka has always enjoyed great popularity among connoisseurs of kavya in India, and its author was rightly praised in a popular verse as the poet who truly knows what is the essence of the art of speech and poetry: devim vacam upasate hi bahavah saram tu sarasvatam janite nitaram asau gurukulaklisto murarih kavih/abdhir langhita eva vanarabhataih kim tv asya gambhiratam apatalanimagnapivaratanur janati manthacalah // "Many have worshiped the muse of speech, but truly the bard Murari, who studied long and hard within his teacher's house, knows the essence of the muses. The soldier apes of Rama crossed the sea, but it is the churning-mountain, whose mighty frame stretched down to Hades, that knows the sea's full depth" (translation by Ingalls 1965: 441). The verse is cited in Vidyakara's Subhasitaratnakosa n. 1701, on p. 1 of the Bombay edition of the Anargharaghava, as well as by Harinarayana Bhat on p. x of his introduction. It is therefore to the delight of all those who enjoy reading Sanskrit kavya and natya that a new edition of this drama is available, that it is accompanied by a very useful and learned commentary, and that for the first time a critical edition of the commentary and of the drama as read by the commentator has been prepared.