Kavirajamarga
Topic: Early Medieval North India: Harsha to the Rajputs · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Kavirajamarga ("the royal road for poets") is the earliest Kannada work that still survives. It was written in the 9th century at the court of the Rashtrakuta king Amoghavarsha I. It is a book on poetics, the rules of good poetry. Some scholars say the king wrote it; others give it to his court poet Srivijaya. It matters because it shows Kannada growing into a literary language under royal support.
Example
The text describes the Kannada-speaking land as lying between the Kaveri and the Godavari rivers. It praises the people there as skilled in speech and poetry. Amoghavarsha I ruled from Manyakheta (Malkheda) for about 64 years and was a poet himself.
Don't confuse with
- Manasollasa: a 12th-century Sanskrit encyclopaedia of royal life by Someshvara III. It is not a Kannada work on poetics.
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- Matsyanyaya
- Gopala
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- Dharmapala
- Devapala
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- Atisha Dipankara