Kuntaka and Vakroktijīvita

Kuntaka wrote his Vakroktijīvita in 10^th Century C.E., in between the composition of the two poetic texts Dhvanyāloka and Vyaktiviveka. He propounds vakrokti school of Sanskrit literary criticism. Vakrokti is the imaginative turn given to expressions (vaidagdhyabhaṅgībhaṇiti). This unique poetic text discusses the six varieties of figurativeness propounded by Kuntaka in four unmeṣas. They are 1. Phonetic figurativeness 2. Lexical figurativeness 3. Grammatical figurativeness 4. Sentential figurativeness 5. Contextual figurativeness and 6. Compositional figurativeness. Through his final variety, Kuntaka tries to evaluate a text as a whole. Every large composition is the combination of few micro sentences. So phonemes constitute the primary structure of a literary composition. Kuntaka’s six types of figurativeness are really helpful to analyze the texts from its smallest phoneme to the largest compositional structure.

Sanskrit rhetoricians always quote individual verses to illustrate various concepts of poetics. Most of the rhetoricians composed verses themselves to illustrate the poetic concepts. Some of them drew illustrative verses from literary works. But the Sanskrit rhetoricians were not keen on analyzing a complete literary work. Kuntaka stood out from other rhetoricians in this aspect. His criticism took into its fold both the criticism of individual verses as well as complete literary works. He critically evaluates the whole work and also suggests some possible changes in the texts from which he had drawn illustrations. Critics like S.K De and N.V Krishnawarrier opine that the main aim of Sanskrit criticism focused on the interpretation of sentences and not on a complete work. He maintains that it is really a drawback of Sanskrit literature that there is no such work, which tries to evaluate a text as a whole. As an answer to this criticism, Dr. Kunjunni Raja says in his text named ‘Bhāṣādarśanavum caritravum’ that the evaluation of the discussion of aṅgirasa by Ānandavardhana in his Dhvanyāloka and the criticism of whole compositions by Kuntaka based on compositions reveal attempts to evaluate a text as a whole.

Kuntaka goes through all major and minor works of Sanskrit literature and extracts the most suitable verse for each and every situation. Kuntaka’s selection of verses from both major and minor works reveals his keen literary appraisal in Sanskrit literature. The works cited by Kuntaka include Raghuvaṃśa, Kumārasambhava, Meghasandeśa, Uttararāmacarita, Mahāvīracarita, Bālarāmāyaṇa, Kirātārjunīya, Abhijñānaśākuntala, Harṣacarita, Mudrārākṣasa, Veṇīsaṃhāra, Śiśupālavadha, Nāgānanda, Viddhaśālabhañjika, Puṣpadūṣitaka, Hayagrīvavadha, Māyāpuṣpaka, Kṛtyārāvaṇa, Abhijñānajānaki, Chalitarāma, Pratimāniruddha and Pāṇḍavābhyudaya. It was already said that he not only quotes from the works of master poets like Kālidāsa, Māgha, Bhāravi etc., but also from the less known works like Abhijñānajānaki and Chalitarāma. Kuntaka brings forth the knowledge of various major and minor Sanskrit literary texts. It is through Kuntaka’s citation that many texts are now known. Texts like Pāṇḍavābhyudaya, Pratimāniruddha etc. are now known only through the references made by Kuntaka.

Kuntaka never hesitates to appreciate the poets for their interesting and innovative concepts put forth in their works. At the same time he had the boldness to criticize the master poets like Kālidāsa. The minute analysis of the examples from literature clearly indicates the critical acumen of Kuntaka as a literary critic. All these facts evidently establish Kuntaka as a unique literary critic in the history of Sanskrit poetics.

Among Sanskrit rhetoricians Kuntaka deserves a unique position as his approach in literary criticism is novel and unquestionable due to his genuine assessment of literature. Many of the citations he makes are rare and beautiful. He is the only critic who provides literary criticism in its wide sense among the rhetoricians of the history of Sanskrit poetics. He is a typical example for analyzing literary merits of poetry unbiasedly. Vakroktijīvita, thus is a mine of information of authors and works known to Kuntaka.