Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c5.50

v1.c5.50

The same tendency towards the artificial or factitious composition is shown also in the prose romances of Subandhu and Bāṇa. Subandhu prides himself on his skill in the use of *śleṣa* in every letter of his composition¹, and his *Vāsavattāda* justifies this boast as a *tour de force* of extraordinary verbal jugglery. In the work itself Subandhu speaks of poetic compositions adorned with poetic figures like *śleṣa*, divided into *ucchvāsas*², and displaying skill in the employment of *vaktra* metre. He specifies also two important poetic figures, viz., *utprekṣā* and *ākṣepa*.³ Equally definite is Bāṇa’s references to rhetoric in his mention, in one of the introductory verses of his *Kādambarī*, of the poetic figures *upamā*, *jāti* (=*svabhāvōkti*), *dīpaka* and *śleṣa* as well as of poetic *rasa* and *śayyā*. Bāṇa also refers to verbal puzzles, such as *akṣara-cyuta*, *bindumatī*, *gudha-caturthapāda* and *prahelikā* ¹, and he seems to be aware of the *ālaṃkārika* distinction between *kathā* and *ākhyāyikā*.²