Alamkaras mentioned by Vamana
by Pratim Bhattacharya | 2016 | 65,462 words
This page relates ‘Alamkara-shastra according to Dandin (8th century)’ of the study on Alamkaras (‘figure of speech’) mentioned by Vamana in his Kavyalankara-sutra Vritti, a treatise dealing with the ancient Indian science of Rhetoric and Poetic elements. Vamana flourished in the 8th century and defined thirty-one varieties of Alamkara (lit. “anything which beautifies a Kavya or poetic composition”)
6: Alaṃkāra-śāstra according to Daṇḍin (8th century)
Daṇḍin (c. 8th cen.–9th cen. A.D.), who stands between the ‘Alaṃkāra-school’ and ‘Rīti-school’, has shown great importance of poetic figures in the treatment of Poetics.
He, for the first time, defines alaṃkāras as basic beautifying element for a poetic composition–
kāvyaśobhākarān dharmānalaṃkārān pracakṣate/
—Kāvyādarśa (of Daṇḍin) 2.1.
He also opines that an uttama-kāvya or good poetry should be embellished by alaṃkāras. He has not differentiated guṇas from alaṃkāras and he asserts that literary excellences such as guṇas and alaṃkāras constitute the essence of poetic diction or mārgas.
He states that guṇas are the special embellishments of vaidarbha-mārga while the alaṃkāras are common embellishments to both vaidarbha-mārga and gauḍa-mārga–
iti vaidarbhamārgasya prāṇādaśaguṇāsmṛtāḥ/
—Kāvyādarśa (of Daṇḍin) 1.42.
Therefore he, in his introduction to the chapter dealing with poetic figures, clearly states technical poetic figures as ‘sādhāraṇamalaṃkārajātam’[1] .
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
kācinmārgavibhāgārthamuktāprāgapyalaṃkṛtiḥ/
sādhāraṇamalaṃkārajātamadya pradarśyate//
— Kāvyādarśa (of Daṇḍin) 2.3.