INTRODUCTION
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Did Bhatti write in anticipation of a possible objection by the rhetoricians ? Or, was he defending himself against Bhamaha’s specific objection in the above verse ? According to Dr. H. R. Divekar, “ It is not thus a boast, but rather an excuse. If a poet is to boast of his poem as being a hard nut to crack, he will boast that the learned and not the dull-witted will find it difficult. To puzzle the dull-witted is not a thing to be proud of and that is why Bhatti gives !vidvatpriyata’ as an excuse for it. It will, therefore, be not wrong, if it is said that the verse of Bhamaha whose conception of poetry is avidvad-ahgana-balaprantUrtham prakdsavat, must be original and the verse of Bhatti who also accepts that conception, is based on Bhamaha’s words. The word ‘eva’ which signifies pratisedka (contradiction) and the reason ‘vidvatpriyata’ makes this quite clear in the mind of the reader.” 1 Possibly both were close contemporaries and Bhamaha had a dig at Bhatti after reading a major portion of the Bhattikavya and Bhatti inevitably retorted at the end in his own way. That is why he substituted ‘alam “ that much is enough forme” , in place of ‘eva’ and declared that he did not feel sorry like Bhamaha who exclaimed ‘hanta’, for he had knowingly dis appointed the dull-witted because of his fondness for the learned. Many other striking semblances between the two may also be taken to indicate that the two were contemporaries, naturally interested in each other’s literary activities. His list of figures of speech concurs partly with Bhamaha’s and partly with Dandin’s but often he seems to have taken quite a different line in illustrating the figures of speech. Bhatti’s expression durvnkandam iva syama (V . 18 ) occurs in an illustration of simile in Bhamaha’s Kavyalahkclrasutra. Bhamaha seems to refer to Bhatti in one of his verses (VI. 62) wherein he describes the crossing of sabdnrnava and the ocean as equally surprising. But these instances only show that BhSmaha was acquainted with a major portion of Bhatti’s work, Bhamaha, according to Dr. De and Dr. Kane, however, probably belonged to the first half of the 1.
<JRAS, 1929, p. 830.
