A History of Sanskrit Literature: Classical Period, Vol. I c4.20

c4.20

When we read the works on rhetoric by Bhāmaha, Daṇḍin, Vāmana, Udbhaṭa and Rudraṭa, and other writers of earlier times, we find discussions on Kāvya of a structural nature. They discuss what constitutes the essence of Kāvya, the nature of adornments, the relative importance of the style, the adornment and the like, or whether or not suggestivity or rousing of sentiments should be regarded as being of primary importance in good literature. But seldom do we find an enumeration regarding requirements of the various kinds of poetry, *mahākāvya*, *khaṇḍa-kāvya*, etc., or a detailed description of the patterns of the different kinds of characters of heroes and heroines, or an enumeration of the subjects that have or have not to be described in works of poetry. These patterns when enumerated by the rhetoricians, becomes patterns of poetic behaviour which must be followed by the poets and loyalty to these patterns became often the criteria of good or bad poetry, just as the patterns of conduct recorded in the *Smṛti-śāstras* became the criteria of good or bad conduct of the people.