Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c30.14

v1.c30.14

Peterson, however, on the indication given in Rājānaka Ānanda’s *Nidarśana*¹ commentary, first called in question the unity of the work, although his first erroneous impression², corrected afterwards by himself,³ was that the *kārikā*-text was composed by Mammaṭa, while the running prose-*vṛtti* was added by some other hand. There is enough evidence now to show that Mammaṭa composed nearly the whole work (*kārikā* and *vṛtti*), and only a small portion of the last chapter, left incomplete by him, was completed by another author, whose name is given by Ānanda as Alaṭa or Alaka. That the fact of joint-authorship is skilfully concealed is supposed to be alluded to in the last verse, given in most of the MSS⁴, which apparently says that “this way of the learned, though different yet appearing identical, is not strange, for here the only cause is a properly constructed (plan of) combination.” This may be explained, no doubt, as meaning that the author here claims the credit of having skilfully removed, in his systematic work, all conflict of opinions held by different authors on Poetics; but most commentators agree in finding here a hint implying that the work left incomplete by Mammaṭa was completed by some other person, and the traces of joint-authorship are ingeniously obliterated. Māṇikyacandra Sūri, one of the earliest commentators, does not comment on this verse¹, but Ruyyaka remarks in his *Saṃketa* commentary: *eṣa grantho granthakṛtānena katham apyasamāptatvād apareṇa ca pūritāvaśeṣatvād dvi-khaṇḍo’-pyakhaṇḍatayā yad avabhāsate tatra saṃghaṭanaiva hetuḥ*. In this view Ruyyaka is followed by Jayanta Bhaṭṭa, Someśvara, Narahari Sarasvatī-tīrtha, Kamalākara, Ānanda, Jajñeśvara and other early as well as late commentators. Rājānaka Ānanda, however, is more explicit and quotes a traditionary verse² to show that Mammaṭa composed the work up to the treatment of the figure *parikara* (x 32), while the rest, consisting of a small portion of the concluding chapter, was completed by Alaka, Alaṭa or Allaṭa³.