A Vaisnava Poet in Early Modern Bengal: Kavikarnapura's Splendour of Speech(Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)

This book examines the practice of poetry in the devotional Vaiṣṇava tradition inspired by Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya (1486-1533), through a detailed study of the Sanskrit poetic works of Kavikarṇapūra, one of the most significant sixteenth-century Caitanya Vaiṣṇava poets and theologians. It places his ideas in the context both of Sanskrit literary theory (by exploring his use of earlier works of Sanskrit criticism) and of Vaiṣṇava theology (by tracing the origins of his theological ideas to earlier Vaiṣṇava teachers, especially his guru Śrīnātha). Both Kavikarṇapūra's poetics as well as the style of his poetry is in many ways at odds with those of his time, particularly with respect to the place of phonetic ornamentation and rasa. Like later early modern theorists, Kavikarṇapūra reaches back to the earliest Sanskrit poeticians whom he attempts to harmonise with the theories current in his time, to develop a new poetics that values both literary ornamentation and the suggestion of emotion through rasa. This book argues that the reasons of and purposes for Kavikarṇapūra's literary innovations are firmly rooted in his unique Vaiṣṇava theology, and exemplifies this through a careful reading of select passages from the Ānanda-vṛndāvana, his poetic retelling of Kṛṣṇa's play in Vṛndāvana.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1: On Kavikarṇapūra 2: On Doctrine and Devotion 3: On Rasa 4: On Poetic Language 5: On Defining Poetry 6: On the Vṛndāvana of Bliss 7: On the Rasa of Love Bibliography

About the Author :
Rembert Lutjeharms is a librarian and research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, and a tutor in Hinduism at the Faculty of Theology & Religion of the University of Oxford. The main subject of his research is the early intellectual history of the Caitanya Vaisnava tradition. He is also an editor of the Journal of Hindu Studies.

Review :
This monograph is outstanding both in terms of the breadth of topics covered and the depth of scholarship through which these topics are explored. Rembert Lutjeharms demonstrates why scholars need to consider seriously the work of Karṇapūra...Lutjeharms provides detailed analysis of each of Karṇapūra's six works, showing us how they fit into literary theoretical history as well as their place in Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism. His careful scholarship, and his philological skills, allowed Lutjeharms to produce an important monograph that belongs in the library of every scholar of early modern Vaiṣṇavism. Lutjeharms has assembled a powerful argument for Karūapura's status among Vaisnavas as a theologian and poet to rival the main authorities in the tradition. The range of Sanskrit literary connections in the poet's work, along with the nuanced translations of the multiple meanings of the literary language using Karūapura's own framework, is an impressive instance of utilizing emic perspectives in understanding the texts.