Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c21.10

v1.c21.10

Bühler¹ first drew attention to this point: and Jacobi², relying on Abhinavagupta's testimony, put forward the suggestion that the Dhvanikāra, the supposed author of the Kārikā, was a different and older writer who should be distinguished from Ānandavardhana, the author of the Vṛtti. In support of this, it has been pointed out that one does not find complete agreement of opinion between the two parts of the work, although the one is an exposition of the other. On the other hand, it seems that the system as given in its bare outline by the Kārikākāra in his concise verses has been considerably expanded, revised, and modified by the Vṛttikāra; and many problems not discussed or even hinted at by the former are elaborately treated of by the latter. In one place, for instance (p. 123), Abhinavagupta clearly points out that the classification of dhvani according to vastu, alaṃkāra, and rasādi is not expressly taught in any kārikā; while in another place in ch. iv, Abhinavagupta states that the question as to the source of the endless variety of artha in poetry is mentioned by the Vṛttikāra but not touched upon by the Kārikākāra. Indeed, it seems that Ānandavardhana in his classical Vṛtti attempted to build up a more or less complete system of Poetics upon the loosely joined ideas and materials supplied by the brief kārikās; and his success was probably so marvellous that in course of time the Kārikākāra receded to the background, completely overshadowed by the more important figure of his formidable expounder; and people considered as the Dhvanikāra not the author of the few memorial verses but the commentator Ānandavardhana himself, who for the first time fixed the theory in its present form. The term "Dhvanikāra" itself came gradually to be used in the generic sense of "the creator of the Dhvani School", and therefore indiscriminately applied by later writers to Ānandavardhana, who, though not himself the founder of the system, came to receive that credit for having first victoriously introduced it in the struggle of the schools.