2023-03-03 05:36:47 by ramamurthys
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power or fancy) create speech (vācam ie poetry). and then his
friends (sakhāyaḥ ie the readers well-qualified like the poet) under-
stand the proper meaning; blessed dignity (bhadrā lakṣmīḥ) is
enshrined in their speech. (RV.X. 71.2)
In his Kāvyamīmāṃsā, Rajaśekhara fascinatingly idealises the
origin of poetics as a special branch for the<error>sutdy</error><fix>study</fix>study of literature from
the Vedic studies and fondly seeks its divine origin from the
supreme Godhead Śiva. According to his opinion, Śiva, the master
of all arts taught sāhityavidyā or critique of literature to Brahmā,
the divine creator, from whom it was handed down to others
through oral tradition and ultimately all such deliberations were
documented in later period.
Yāska's Nirukta (cir 700-500 BC) (ie the lexicon of the Vedic
language as well as linguistic study of the Vedic words) is perhaps
the oldest extant work which used the word alaṃkāra in the sense
of figure of speech. The earliest definition of upamā (simile) is to
be found here, and a few illustrations of some varieties of upamā
are also quoted from Vedic hymns. The famous Sanskrit grammar
Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini (cir 700-400 BC) uses the three words upamā
(similitude), upamāna (the standard of comparison) and upamita
(the subject of description) which are closely connected with the
figures based on similitude.
All the diefinitions of alaṃkāras as quoted in this work have
been taken from twenty seven standard texts of Sanskrit poetics
<error>wirtten</error> <fix>written</fix>written over a period of about two thousand years (ie 100-1800
AD). Therefore, it is necessary to give a brief account of such texts
in a chronological order. It should be mentioned here that these
texts are not uniform in structure and treatment. Some works per-
vade the entire field of poetics along with dramaturgy, others deal
with general and particular topics of literary criticism and a few of
them propound individual theories of literary criticism like dhvani
or vyañjanā (ie extra-ordinary implication of Art) or aucitya (ie pro-
priety as the overall criterion of artistic expression) or vakrokti (ie
artful diction as the essence of poetic language) or rasa (ie aes-
thetic contemplation offering uninhibited delight free from all
objective relations -- which, in other words, is conceived in the
friends (sakhāyaḥ ie the readers well-qualified like the poet) under-
stand the proper meaning; blessed dignity (bhadrā lakṣmīḥ) is
enshrined in their speech. (RV.X. 71.2)
In his Kāvyamīmāṃsā, Rajaśekhara fascinatingly idealises the
origin of poetics as a special branch for the
the Vedic studies and fondly seeks its divine origin from the
supreme Godhead Śiva. According to his opinion, Śiva, the master
of all arts taught sāhityavidyā or critique of literature to Brahmā,
the divine creator, from whom it was handed down to others
through oral tradition and ultimately all such deliberations were
documented in later period.
Yāska's Nirukta (cir 700-500 BC) (ie the lexicon of the Vedic
language as well as linguistic study of the Vedic words) is perhaps
the oldest extant work which used the word alaṃkāra in the sense
of figure of speech. The earliest definition of upamā (simile) is to
be found here, and a few illustrations of some varieties of upamā
are also quoted from Vedic hymns. The famous Sanskrit grammar
Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini (cir 700-400 BC) uses the three words upamā
(similitude), upamāna (the standard of comparison) and upamita
(the subject of description) which are closely connected with the
figures based on similitude.
All the d
been taken from twenty seven standard texts of Sanskrit poetics
AD). Therefore, it is necessary to give a brief account of such texts
in a chronological order. It should be mentioned here that these
texts are not uniform in structure and treatment. Some works per-
vade the entire field of poetics along with dramaturgy, others deal
with general and particular topics of literary criticism and a few of
them propound individual theories of literary criticism like dhvani
or vyañjanā (ie extra-ordinary implication of Art) or aucitya (ie pro-
priety as the overall criterion of artistic expression) or vakrokti (ie
artful diction as the essence of poetic language) or rasa (ie aes-
thetic contemplation offering uninhibited delight free from all
objective relations -- which, in other words, is conceived in the