Indian Buddhism and the kavya Literature : Asvaghosa's Saundaranandakavya

Asvaghosa's Saundaranandakavya is a work of which theme is a legend of the conversion of a reluctant man called Nanda, the Buddha's half-brother. Asvaghosa claims that, on account of the attractiveness and popularity of kavya, he uses the kavya style as a mere means for Buddhist teachings. At the end of the work he says ""This poem, dealing thus with the subject of Salvation has been written in the Kavya style, not to give pleaseure, but to further the attainment of tranquillity and with the intention of capturing hearers devoted to other things. For, that I have handled other subjects in it besides Salvation is in accordance with the laws of Kavya poetry to make it palatable, as sweet is put into a bitter medicine to make it drinkable."" (Saundaranandakavya XVIII. 63, Johnston's translation). Generally speaking, scholars on Sanskrit literature have concentrated on the first half of the work, in which the authour describes Nanda's married life in detail, Buddhist scholars, on the other hand, have mainly studied on the second half, in which we find a lot of Buddhist doctrines and ascetic practices. Few studies have thus ever tried to understand the Saundaranandakavya as a unitary work. In this paper, through the examination of ""the laws of Kavya poetry"" (kavyadharma) in the above quote, I maitain that the Saundaranandakavya should be conceived as a unitary work which, though composed in the kavya style, has practical pourposes in Buddhism