The Colas c34.42

c34.42

The *Daṇḍiyalaṅgāram* is the only work devoted entirely to a discussion of *alaṅkāra*, or *aṇi* as it is called in Tamil. The name of the work is justified by its closely following the model of Daṇḍi's *Kāvyādarśa*, being in fact a more or less close rendering of it in Tamil. The name of the author and the details of his life and age have disappeared altogether. There is a verse of unknown age which states that the author was the son of Ambikāpati, and was himself called Daṇḍi, that he attained eminence in Sanskrit and Tamil learning, expounding *alaṅkāra* on the lines laid down by Sanskrit rhetoricians. The great poet Kamban is reputed to have had a son Ambikāpati by name, and it is sometimes held that our author was the grandson of Kamban. One of the earliest references to the *Daṇḍiyalaṅgāram* is that by Aḍiyārkkunallār, in his celebrated commentary on the *Śilappadikāram*. The work was also apparently called *Aṇiyiyal*,⁶¹ *Aṇiyilakkaṇam* and *Aṇiyadigāram*. It is composed in *sūtra* style and, like the *Kāvyādarśa*, it treats of the nature of poetry and *kāvya*, and of figures of speech under two generic heads—*arthālaṅkāra* (*poruḷaṇi*) and *śabdālaṅkāra* (*śollaṇi*). The author of the *Prayōgavivēkam*, writing some time in the eighteenth century, says that the author of the *Daṇḍiyalaṅgāram* annotated the *sūtras* and illustrated them himself. This seems probable, and it is interesting to note that some of the illustrative stanzas are in praise of Anapāya Cōḷa.⁶²