Handbook of Classical Sanskrit Rhetoric /35

Introduction
 
prosody, literary qualities, riddles and especially grammar through

illustrative verses. The complete book is divided into 4 sections -
-
prakīrṇa, adhikāra, prasanna and timṃanta. The 3rd section is entirely

devoted to poetics and here we get 75 verses as illustrations of 38

figures in the 10th canto, 87 verses as examples of bhāvika in the

12th canto and 50 verses as examples of the figure bhāṣa-sama in

the 13th canto. In his treatment of the figures of speech, Bhaṭṭi fol-

lows the same tradition accepted by Daṇḍin and Bhāmaha. Bhaṭṭi

is roughly placed on the latter half of the 6th century AD.
 
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4. Kävyäāvyādarśa or Mirror of Poetry : The Kāvyādarśa is the magnum

opus of Dandṇḍin (650-700 AD) who is also the author of the

Dasśakumāra-carita, a prose romance and the Avantisundariī-kathā

(also a prose romance which is unfortunately lost barring a few

pages at the beginning).
 

 
The Kavyadarsāvyādarśa, divided into 3 chapters, is an authentic work

dealing with almost all the topics of Sanskrit poetics. Daṇḍin is the

founder of the Riīti school and accepts two principal styles of poetic

diction (ie vaidarbhi and gauḍī) and recognises the former as the

finest of literary styles, which is characterised by the ten guṇas (lit-

erary attributes). But he also gives equal importance to alamṃkāras
and uses the term alam
and uses the term alaṃkāra in a very wide sense. Figures, according

to him, are the elements of beautification of poetry. In the II chap-

ter of his book 35 alamṃkāras have been defined, explained and

illustrated and the varieties of Upamā as given by him appears very

much interesting. Among the early rhetoricians Dandin holds a
ṇḍin holds a
very high position as a rhetor and critic of literature.
 
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5. Kāvyālamṃkāra or Embellishment of Poetry: The Kävyālamāvyālaṃkāra of

Bhāmaha (700-750 AD), divided into 6 chapters containing about

400 verses along with an index of topics at the end, discusses the

common topics of poetics. Like Dandṇḍin he also expresses his

indebtedness to his predecessors and refers to Medhäāvirudra by

name. Commentaries of the Kavyaāvyādarśa also refer to Käsāśyapa,

Brahmadatta, Vararuci and Nandisvāmin as his predecessors; but

unfortunately no treatise of these scholars has been available so

far. Bhāmaha is considered as the oldest exponent of alamṃkāra
 
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN