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A Handbook of Classical Sanskrit Rhetoric
needs proficiency in some technical subjects like grammar, rheto-
ric and prosody. Thus it is said that poetry was assigned sometimes to
the care of grammar, sometimes to rhetoric. When we look at the differ-
ent types of poetic compositions of the decadent period of Sanskrit
literature we feel that such varieties of poetry or prose was purely
written for the sake of exhibiting the poet's extra-ordinary skill
either in rhetoric, or grammar or any branch of technical knowl-
edge like philosophy, erotics etc. Sometimes it appears that the
ancient rhetorical tradition is very much important to the poets
who are eager to exhibit their pedantry through the common
rhetorical devices. The scholastic tradition of classical rhetoric
actually started after Kālidāsa though some sort of its root was
inherited by Bhāravi and Māgha from their immediate predeces-
sors. It was a period of transition from the pure and simple to the
ornamental and gorgeous, from natural to superfluous and from
easy to labourious.
In ancient Indian literary criticism, at least before Anandvard-
hana, it was partially accepted that poetry was versified rhetoric, and
figure of speech was considered as the essence of poetry or style
was the soul of poetry. According to older rhetoricians poetic fig-
ures, embellishments and diction (ie alamkāras, gunas and rīti
respectively) are the most important and fundamental characteris-
tic features of poetry. Sometimes there is hardly any difference
between them. It was a dominant idea among the rhetors that any
poetic device rendering special charm of aesthetic beauty in any
way either grammatically, linguistically or artistically should be
considered as alamkāra or ornament. Thus alamkāra or figure of
speech was the predominant element of rhetoric and the standard
of judgement for many centuries. Any aspect of poetry, whether
linguistic or literary, external or internal, can be termed as
alamkāra.
In Sanskrit poetics, alamkāra is one of the fundamental con-
cepts connoting all artistic principles as well as rhetorical embell-
ishments by which any poetic expression (or sabdārtha-sāhitya ie
combination of word and meaning and their literary value of
poetic diction) becomes beautiful. So the term alamkāra may be
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Original from
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
A Handbook of Classical Sanskrit Rhetoric
needs proficiency in some technical subjects like grammar, rheto-
ric and prosody. Thus it is said that poetry was assigned sometimes to
the care of grammar, sometimes to rhetoric. When we look at the differ-
ent types of poetic compositions of the decadent period of Sanskrit
literature we feel that such varieties of poetry or prose was purely
written for the sake of exhibiting the poet's extra-ordinary skill
either in rhetoric, or grammar or any branch of technical knowl-
edge like philosophy, erotics etc. Sometimes it appears that the
ancient rhetorical tradition is very much important to the poets
who are eager to exhibit their pedantry through the common
rhetorical devices. The scholastic tradition of classical rhetoric
actually started after Kālidāsa though some sort of its root was
inherited by Bhāravi and Māgha from their immediate predeces-
sors. It was a period of transition from the pure and simple to the
ornamental and gorgeous, from natural to superfluous and from
easy to labourious.
In ancient Indian literary criticism, at least before Anandvard-
hana, it was partially accepted that poetry was versified rhetoric, and
figure of speech was considered as the essence of poetry or style
was the soul of poetry. According to older rhetoricians poetic fig-
ures, embellishments and diction (ie alamkāras, gunas and rīti
respectively) are the most important and fundamental characteris-
tic features of poetry. Sometimes there is hardly any difference
between them. It was a dominant idea among the rhetors that any
poetic device rendering special charm of aesthetic beauty in any
way either grammatically, linguistically or artistically should be
considered as alamkāra or ornament. Thus alamkāra or figure of
speech was the predominant element of rhetoric and the standard
of judgement for many centuries. Any aspect of poetry, whether
linguistic or literary, external or internal, can be termed as
alamkāra.
In Sanskrit poetics, alamkāra is one of the fundamental con-
cepts connoting all artistic principles as well as rhetorical embell-
ishments by which any poetic expression (or sabdārtha-sāhitya ie
combination of word and meaning and their literary value of
poetic diction) becomes beautiful. So the term alamkāra may be
Digitized by
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN