Alamkaras mentioned by Vamana
by Pratim Bhattacharya | 2016 | 65,462 words
This page relates ‘Alamkara-shastra according to Appayya Dikshita (16th 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�)
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23: Alaṃkāra-śāstra according to Appayya Dīkṣita (16th Century)
Appayya Dīkṣīta probably flourished between the last half of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century. He is famous in Sanskrit Poetics for his three works—the �ܱԲԻ岹�, the �侱ٰīṃs� and the �ṛtپٲԲ첹�. The ܱԲԻ岹 is directly based on the ṃk portion of Jayadeva’s �䲹Իǰ첹�[1] . The aim of this work as mentioned by the author himself is to create a lucid manual of the characteristics and definitions of ṃks for the beginners of Poetics[2] . Though following Jayadeva, Appayya has mostly rewritten many of the definitions and examples of the 䲹Իǰ첹. He has also illustrated some additional figures to 䲹Իǰ첹 in his work taking the total number of figures to one hundred and seventeen (117) excluding ṃsṛṣṭi and ṃk. This is perhaps the largest number of figures illustrated in any work of Sanskrit Poetics.
The 侱ٰīṃs of the author is also a manual of Sanskrit figures but it has a more independent nature. Both the ܱԲԻ岹 and the 侱ٰīṃs have been fairly criticised by the later rhetoricians and commentators. Բٳ has criticised Appayya in 侱ٰīṃskhaṇḍana and 鲹ṅg while the commentator īԲ has also slammed Appayya’s point of view in his ܱԲԻ岹khaṇḍana.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
yeṣāṃ candrāloke dṛśyante lakṣyalakṣaṇaślokā�/
prāyasta eva teṣāmitareṣāṃ tvabhinavāviracyante//
� ܱԲԻ岹 (of Appayyadīkṣīta) 5.