श्रीनीलकण्ठदीक्षितः
श्री नीलकण्ठदीक्षितः सप्तादश शतके (century) अवसत्। सः मधुरापुरी (Madurai) राज्यस्य राज्ञः ‘तिरुमलै नायकस्य’ प्रधानमन्त्रिः आसीत्। सः श्री अप्पयदीक्षितस्य परम्परायाम् आगतः। बाल्यादेव बहुभ्यः गुरुभ्यः अध्ययनात् तस्य प्रतिभा वर्धिता।
श्री नीलकण्ठदिक्षितः ‘शिवलीलार्णवः’ तथा च ‘गङ्गावतारणम्’ इति द्वौ ग्रन्थौ अरचयत्। शिवलीलार्णवे शिवस्य मधुरापुरी नगरप्रसङ्गम् अवर्णयत् कविः, तथा च गङ्गावतारणे, राजकुमारस्य भगीरथस्य प्रयत्नेन, भूलोके गङ्गायाः आनयनम् च अवर्णयत्।
‘नीलकण्ठविजयचम्पू’ इति गद्यपद्यात्मकरूपं काव्यमपि अरचयत् सः। अस्मिन् ग्रन्थे सुराऽसुराणाम् अमृतमथनप्रसङ्गं तथा च लोकरक्षणाय शिवस्य हलाहलविषस्वीकरणघट्टं च अवर्णयत्। तस्य ‘आनन्दसागरस्तवं’ तथा च ' शिवोत्कर्षमञ्जरी ' इति द्वावपि भक्तिप्रतिपादनग्रन्थौ स्तः।
‘कलिविडम्बनम्’, ‘शान्तिविलासः’ तथा च ‘सभारञ्जनशतकमिति’ त्रिषु ग्रन्थेषु, समाजे ये दुराचाराः वर्तन्ते, कथं जनाः पण्डितनाम्ना अपण्डितैः वञ्चिताः भवन्ति इति विषयान् स्वीकृत्य, हास्य तथा मनोरञ्जकश्लोकैः कविना लिख्यते। संस्कृतसाहित्ये अयमेव कविः प्रथमम् एतेषु विषयेषु अलिखत् इति यशोऽपि प्राप्यते कविना।
Poet – 3
srI nIlakanta DIkshita
SrI nIlakaNta DIkshita belonged to the 17th century and cannot be considered as a poet of remote past from the Indian standard of antiquity.
srI nIlakanta DIkshita was the court poet as well as the chief minister of king Tirumala nAyaka who ruled madurai during the 17th century A.D. He hails from a family of scholars and the great poet and philosopher- SrI apapaya dIkshita is his ancestor. SrI nIlakantha had good education under several noble preceptors, which enabled him to shine as a good scholar and poet.
He has written two major works. They are the siva lIlArNava and GangAvatAraNa. The first book describes the episodes of siva at madurai and the latter one depicts the story of the celestial ganges coming to the earth through the continuous effort of prince Bhageeratha.
In another work ‘nIlakantha vijaya champu’ – which is a blend of prose and poetry, the poet describes the churning of milky ocean by divines and demons and lord siva consuming the hAlahAla poison, in order to save the universe.
The book 'Ananda sAgara stava' has verses on praise of the goddess meenAkshi and 'sivotkarsa manjari' which extols the greatness of lord siva are the devotional works of the poet.
'Kalividambanam', 'sAnti vilAsam' and 'sabhAranjan satakam' are some of his minor works of didactic character. The 'kalividambanam' and 'sabhAranjana satakam' each consisting of hundred slokas were the two earliest poems portraying the social evils. It was nIlakanta dIkshita who first attempted on these topics in a satirical way.
