Alamkaras mentioned by Vamana
by Pratim Bhattacharya | 2016 | 65,462 words
This page relates ‘Alamkara-shastra according to Mammata (11th 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”)
14: Alaṃkāra-śāstra according to Mammaṭa (11th century)
Mammaṭa (c. 11th cen.–12th cen. A.D.) is one of the most popular and influential rhetoricians of the Kashmirian school of Alaṃkāraśāstra. He is influenced by the Dhvani-theory of Ānandavardhana but he has also borrowed ideas from some older schools of Sanskrit Poetics like the Alaṃkāras chool, the Rasas chool etc. Mammaṭa’s elaborate work on Sanskrit Poetics is named ‘Kāvyaprakāśa’ and it is divided into ten (10) ‘ullāsas’ or chapters. In this work he has elaborately discussed the main issues regarding Sanskrit Poetics and he has put forth an orderly and wholesome treatment of these issues in accordance with his predecessors.
Mammaṭa’s famous definitio n of poetry throws light upon the author’s view on the importance of alaṃkāras in poetic composition—
tadadoṣau śabdārthau saguṇāvanalaṃkṛtīpunaḥ kvāpi /
—Kāvya-prakāśa (of Mammaṭa) 1.1.
Mammaṭa opines that poetic figures are not always necessary to Poetics. ‘Analaṃkṛtīpunaḥ kvāpi’ means that a composition consisting in words and sense, devoid of defects and possessing poetic excellences can be regarded as poetry even if it does not contain poetic figures[1] . Mammaṭa clarifies his view with the help of a well-known verse composed by Kashmirian poetess Śīlābhaṭṭārikā[2] .
He then comes to the conclusion that in the said verse the embellishment has been done by the superiority of rasa and not the alaṃkāras—
atra sphuṭ o na kaścidalaṃkāraḥ /
rasasya ca prādhānyānnālaṃkāratā/
—Kāvya-prakāśa (of Mammaṭa) 1.1. (vṛtti).
Mammaṭa’s definition of alaṃkāras also justifies the said argument.
According to him, the poetic figures belonging to word (śabda) and sense (artha) like anuprāsa, upamā etc are like ornaments on a human body. They only adorn the words and senses which constitute the body of poetry. The place of alaṃkāras in poetry is justified by their relation to rasa—
upakurvanti taṃ (rasaṃ) santaṃ ye'ṅgadvāreṇa jātucit/
hārādivadalaṃkārāste'nuprāsopamādayaḥ//
—Kāvya-prakāśa (of Mammaṭa) 8.67.
These alaṃkāras are considered as mere varieties of expression in the absence of rasa—
yatra tu nāsti rasastatroktivaicitryamātraparyavasāyinaḥ/
—Kāvya-prakāśa (of Mammaṭa) 8.67 (vṛtti)
Although Mammaṭa considers poetic figures as indirect or secondary embellishments to poetry he has elaborately analysed and explained a large number of poetic figures in the last two chapters of his work.