rAmasvAmI shAstrI (रामस्वामी शास्त्री) was a versatile writer. He wrote in almost all branches of saMskR^ita literature, poetry, drama, rhetoric, metrics, grammar and philosophy. He was a born poet, and his poetry was the outcome of divine inspiration. In his kIrtivilAsa-champU (कीर्त्तिविलासचम्पूः) he says that he had a spontaneous poetic outpouring which resembled in its speed and gallop of horses (ashvadhATI – अश्वधाटी).
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घोटीनामनुकुर्वतीं स्ववशयन् धाटीं जवात्साहितीम् ।
cf. घोटीकुलादधिकधाटीमुदारमुखवीटीरसेन तनुताम् – ambAShTaka (अम्बाष्टकम्), ascribed to sha~NkarAchArya (शङ्कराचार्यः).
ashvadhATI (अश्वधाटी) reminds one of the Pegasus or the winged horse of Greek Mythology which means poetic genius.
}
He could handle the most abstruse subject with ease and felicity and had formed a style of his own which is at once simple, clear and elegant. A short account of some of his extant works is given here.
surUparAghava (सुरूपराघवः) is one of his most important works. It is a mahAkAvya (महाकाव्यम्) in the pattern of the bhaTTi-kAvya (भट्टिकाव्यम्) describing the rAma story (रामकथा) and indirectly illustrating the rules of pANini (पाणिनिः) and the common figures of speech. It has considerable improvement on its prototype; and in respect of illustration of grammar, it follows the siddhAnta-kaumudI (सिद्धान्तकौमुदी) of bhaTTojI-dIxita (भट्टोजीदीक्षितः). The author has made innovations in the theme which heightens the poetic effect of the work. He also wrote a lucid commentary to the poem explaining grammatical subtleties. The extant manuscript ends with the 33rd stanza in the eighth canto which describes dasharatah’s (दशरथः) entreating kaikeyI (कैकेयी) :
{
घोटीनामनुकुर्वतीं स्ववशयन् धाटीं जवात्साहितीम् ।
cf. घोटीकुलादधिकधाटीमुदारमुखवीटीरसेन तनुताम् – ambAShTaka (अम्बाष्टकम्), ascribed to sha~NkarAchArya (शङ्कराचार्यः).
ashvadhATI (अश्वधाटी) reminds one of the Pegasus or the winged horse of Greek Mythology which means poetic genius.
}
He could handle the most abstruse subject with ease and felicity and had formed a style of his own which is at once simple, clear and elegant. A short account of some of his extant works is given here.
surUparAghava (सुरूपराघवः) is one of his most important works. It is a mahAkAvya (महाकाव्यम्) in the pattern of the bhaTTi-kAvya (भट्टिकाव्यम्) describing the rAma story (रामकथा) and indirectly illustrating the rules of pANini (पाणिनिः) and the common figures of speech. It has considerable improvement on its prototype; and in respect of illustration of grammar, it follows the siddhAnta-kaumudI (सिद्धान्तकौमुदी) of bhaTTojI-dIxita (भट्टोजीदीक्षितः). The author has made innovations in the theme which heightens the poetic effect of the work. He also wrote a lucid commentary to the poem explaining grammatical subtleties. The extant manuscript ends with the 33rd stanza in the eighth canto which describes dasharatah’s (दशरथः) entreating kaikeyI (कैकेयी) :
सायम्प्रातिकमासिकसांवत्सरिकेषु तावकार्थेषु ।
पौनःपुनिकेष्विच्छसि कियदधिकं द्वैप्यवस्तुषु ब्रूहि ॥
