Sahityadarpana

Viswanatha Kaviraja, most widely known for his masterpiece in aesthetics, Sahityadarpana, was a prolific poet, scholar, and rhetorician who ascended literary heights during the reigns of two successive Gangavamsi rulers of Kalinga (India) (the modern Orissa) – King Narasimha Deva IV and King Nishanka Bhanudeva IV. In absence of availability of exact dates of his birth and date, the periods of their rules (i.e. 1378 AD – 1434 AD) is assumed to be the time of Viswanatha.

Viswanatha was born to an illustrious family of scholars and poets. His grandfather, Narayana Dasa, wrote a commentary on Gitagovinda, the most well-known Sanskrit work in the Vaishnavite tradition, written by Jayadeva, another major Sanskrit poet from Kalinga, who lived in circa 1200 AD. Narayana Dasa's brother, Chandi Dasa, wrote a commentary on Kavyaprakasha, an earlier work on poetics, written by aesthetician Mammatha. Viswantha's father, Chandrashekhara also wrote a few poems.

Both Viswanatha and his father held the titles of ministers of war and peace (Sandhivigrahika Mahapatra) in the courts of the kings of Kalinga.

Viswanatha's son, Ananta Dasa, also wrote commentaries and notes on Sahityadarpana.

Viswanatha was not just prolific he was equally versatile. Apart from studying and researching aesthetics, he created a number of literary works, in all the branches of literature – poetry, prose, criticism, and drama. He wrote equally easily in Sanskrit and Prakrit. Viswanatha is supposed to have mastered eighteen languages. In fact, he wrote one of his works, Prasasti Ratnavali in sixteen languages.

Some of his major works include Chandrakala Natika (playlet), Prabhavati Parinaya (drama), Raghava Vilasa (long poem), Raghava Vilapa (poem), Kuvalayasva Charita (poem in Prakrit), Prasasti Ratnavali (poem in sixteen languages), Narasimha Vijaya (poem), Sahityadarpana (study in aesthetics), Kavyaprakasha darpana (criticism), Kamsavadha (poem), and Lakshmistava (verses).

Sahityadarpana ("mirror of composition" in Sanskrit) is Viswanatha's most famous work and arguably one of the most comprehensive works in Indian aesthetics. According to PV Kane, author of A History of Sanskrit Poetics, Viswanatha is believed to have written Sahityadarpana before 1384 AD.

Sahityadarpana is different from earlier works in aesthetics in two major ways. One, for the first time, it combined, in one treatise, both the sravya aspect (poetics) and drisya aspect (dramaturgy) of aesthetics. Before Viswanatha, aestheticians had confined themselves largely to one aspect, though they often referred to the other.

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