3: Design of Vāmana’s work: style of composition

Vāmana is the pioneer of composing an alaṃkāra-śāstra in the style of sūtra-vṛtti, a style which is often preferred by the Grammarians. His famous predecessors–Bharata, Bhāmaha and Daṇḍin composed their works in the more conventional ‘kārika’ style.

The vṛtti of Vāmana’s Kāvyālaṃkārasūtras is named ‘Kavipriyā’—

praṇamya paramaṃ jyotirvāmanena kavipriyā/
kāvyālaṃkārasūtrāṇāṃ sveṣāṃ vṛttirvidhīyate//
  —maṅgala-śloka of vṛtti

—According to the well-known commentator of Kāvyālaṃkārasūtravṛtti, Gopendra Tripurahara, the word ‘Kavipriyā’ can derivatively mean either a vṛtti which is beloved to the poets or a vṛtti which gives pleasure to the poets.

The vṛtti is composed by Vāmana himself and is very much essential in the proper understanding of the sūtras. Later rhetoricians like Abhinavagupta and Pratīhārendurāja^[1] have also ascribed both the sūtras and the vṛttis to Vāmana. The vṛtti also contains several illustrative verses which can be divided into two categories—‘svīya’ (verses composed by Vāmana himself) and ‘parakīya’ (verses collected from predecessors)^[2] .

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Pratīhārendurāja, in his commentary on Udbhaṭā’s Kāvyālaṃkārasārasaṃgraha, has frequently quoted from Vāmana’s work. He has referred to the vṛtti of KLSV as composed by Vāmana himself. For example, in Pratīhārendurāja’s Laghuvṛtti p-76 we find ślokas attributed to Vāmana which are included in Kāvyālaṃkārasūtravṛtti (of Vāmana) 3.1.2. (vṛtti).

[2]:

ebhirnidarśanaiḥ svīyaiḥ parakīyaiśca puṣkalaiḥ/
śabdavaicitryagarbheyamupamaiva prapañcitā//
  —Kāvyālaṃkārasūtravṛtti (of Vāmana) 4.3.33. (vṛtti).