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{{short description|Indian writer}}
{{use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2016}}

'''Daṇḍin''' ({{flourished|7th–8th century}}) was an Indian [[Sanskrit]] grammarian and [[author]] of [[prose]] [[romance (heroic literature)|romances]]. He is one of the best-known writers in Asian history.{{sfnp|Bronner|2011|p=70}}

== Life ==
His writings were all in [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]].<ref>Gupta, D. K. (1970). ''A critical study of Daṇḍin and his works''. Delhi: Meharchand Lachhmandas.
Gupta, D. K. (1972). ''Society and culture in the time of Daṇḍin''. Delhi: Meharchand Lachhmandas.</ref> Daṇḍin's account of his life in ''Avantisundarī'' states that he was a great-grandson of Dāmodara, a court poet from [[Vidarbha]] who served, among others, the [[Pallava]] king [[Simhavishnu|Siṃhaviṩṇu]] and King [[Durvinita|Durvinīta]] of the [[Western Ganga dynasty]]:

<
Yigal Bronner concludes that 'These details all suggest that Daṇḍin’s active career took place around 680–720 CE under the auspices of [[Narasimhavarman II|Narasiṃhavarman II]] R
Daṇḍin was widely praised as a poet by Sanskrit commentators such as [[Rajashekhara (Sanskrit poet)|Rajashekhara]] ({{flourished|920 CE}}), and his works are widely studied. 
One ''shloka'' (hymn) that explains the strengths of different poets says: दण्डिन: पदलालित्यम् (''daṇḍinaḥ padalālityaṃ:'' "Daṇḍin is the master of playful words").

Daṇḍin's works are not well preserved. He composed the now incomplete ''[[Daśakumāracarita]]'',<ref>first translated into English by P.W. Jacob, ''Hindoo tales, or, The adventures of ten princes, freely translated from the Sanscrit of the Dasakumaracharitam'' (London: Strahan & Co., 1873).</ref> and the even less complete ''Avantisundarī'' (The Story of the Beautiful Lady from Avanti), in prose. He is best known for composing the ''[[Kavyadarsha|Kāvyādarśa]]'' ('Mirror of Poetry'), the handbook of classical Sanskrit poetics, or ''[[Kāvya]]'', which appears to be intact. Debate continues over whether these were composed by a single person, but 'there is now a wide consensus that a single Daṇḍin in authored all these works at the Pallava court in Kāñcī around the end of the seventh century'.{{sfnp|Bronner|2011|p=71–73, quoting 77}}

== Works ==

===''Kāvyādarśa''===
{{main|Kavyadarsha}}
The ''Kāvyādarśa'' is the earliest surviving systematic treatment of poetics in Sanskrit. ''Kāvyādarśa'' was strongly influenced by Bhaṭṭi's ''[[Bhaṭṭikāvya]]''.<ref>Söhnen, Renate. 1995. “On the Concept and Presentation of ‘yamaka’ in Early Indian Poetic Theory”. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies Vol. 58. No. 3 p 495–520.</ref> In ''Kāvyādarśa'', Daṇḍin argues that a poem's beauty derives from its use of [[rhetorical device]]s – of which he distinguished thirty-six.

He is known for his complex sentences and creation of long compound words (some of his sentences ran for half a page, and some of his words for half a line).

The ''Kāvyādarśa'' is similar to and in many ways in disagreement with [[Bhāmaha]]'s ''Kāvyālaṃkāra''. Although modern scholars have debated who was borrowing from whom, or responding to whom, Bhāmaha appears to have been earlier, and that Daṇḍin was responding to him. By the tenth century, the two works were apparently studied together, and seen as foundational works on Sanskrit poetry.<ref>Yigal Bronner, 'A Question of Priority: Revisiting the Bhamaha-Daṇḍin Debate', ''The Journal of Indian Philosophy'', 40 (2012), 67–118. DOI 10.1007/s10781-011-9128-x</ref>

===''Daśakumāracarita'' and ''Avantisundarī''===
{{main|Daśakumāracarita}}

''Daśakumāracarita'' is a prose text that tells of the vicissitudes of ten princes in their pursuit of love and power. It contains stories of common life and reflects Indian society during the period, couched in colourful Sanskrit prose. It consists of (1) Pūrvapīṭhikā, (2) Daśakumāracarita Proper, and (3) Uttarapīṭhikā.

Overlapping in content with the ''Daśakumāracarita'' and also attributed to Daṇḍin is the even more fragmentary ''Avantisundarī'' or ''Avantisundarīkathā'' (The Story of the Beautiful Lady from Avanti).<ref>''Avantisundarī kathā and Avantisundarī kathāsāra'', ed. by S. K. Ramanatha Sastri (Madras: Dixon Press, 1924); ''Avantisundarī of Ācārya Daṇḍin'', ed. by Sūranād Kunjan Pillai, Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, 172 (Trivandrum: University of Travancore, 1954); ''Avantisundarī kathāsāra'', ed. by G. Harihara Sastri (Madras: Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, 1957).</ref> Its two fragmentary manuscripts tell a story that is reflected by a later, fragmentary Sanskrit poem, the ''Avantisundarīkathāsāra'' (Gist of the Story of the Beautiful Lady from Avanti) and a fragmentary thirteenth-century [[Telugu language|Telugu]] translation.

The two texts may represent separate compositions on the same theme by the same author, or are parts of one prose work by Daṇḍin that was broken up early in its transmission.{{sfnp|Bronner|2011|p=75, 77}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
* {{cite journal|last1=Bronner|first1=Yigal|title=A Question of Priority: Revisiting the Bhāmaha-Daṇḍin Debate|journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy|date=29 April 2011|volume=40|issue=1|pages=67–118|doi=10.1007/s10781-011-9128-x|url=http://yigalbronner.huji.ac.il//wp-content/uploads/2013/08/download-3.pdf|access-date=28 November 2015}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Tripathi|first=Jayashankar|title=DANDIN|series=Makers of Indian Literature|date=1996|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|location=New Delhi|isbn=81-260-0129-1}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110711122535/http://granthamandira.com/index.php?show=entry&e_no=4 Kavyadarsa - word, pdf]
* {{cite book |last=Rahman |first=Aminur |year=2012 |chapter=Poetics |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Poetics |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}
* [http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/DigitalBook/K/Kavyadarshdandi.pdf Kavyadarsha] of Dandi, Sanskrit text
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101110061359/http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gretil/1_sanskr/5_poetry/1_alam/dkavy12u.htm Kavyadarsa, Paricchedas 1 and 2] (input by Somadeva Vasudeva) at [[GRETIL]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090724075838/http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gret_utf.htm#DandKav Kavyadarsha, Paricchedas 1; 2.1-144, 310-368] (input by Reinhold Grünendahl) at [[GRETIL]]
* {{Librivox author |id=2990}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dandin}}
[[Category:8th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:Sanskrit poets]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Place of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]

Daṇḍin - Revision history

imported>Dāsānudāsa at 14:09, 8 June 2021