Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c69.14

v1.c69.14

Looking at the question from another point of view, we may classify the systems of Poetics broadly into (1) Pre-dhvani (2) Dhvani and (3) Post-dhvani systems, taking the *dhvani*-theory as the central landmark. In the Pre-dhvani group, we include all writers (flourishing before Ānandavardhana), mentioned in groups I and II above, with the exception of the Dhvanikāra and Ānandavardhana, with whose names the Dhvani-system is associated. In the Post-dhvani systems may be comprised the followers of the Dhvani-system from Mammaṭa to Jagannātha, together with reactionary or unorthodox authors like Kuntala or Mahimabhatta, as well as the writers on *śṛṅgāra* and on *kavi-śikṣā*. On the other hand, the systems of Poetics have been grouped, on the basis of the particular theory emphasised by a particular group of writers, into (1) the Rasa School (2) the Alaṃkāra School (3) the Rīti School and (4) the Dhvani School¹. The convenience of this classification tion is obvious, but it is doubtful whether we may safely apply the term "School" to indicate affiliation to a particular system of opinion, when we consider that one has to admit a great deal of mutual and (to a certain extent) inevitable contamination of the different "schools", which makes the existence of any particular school *by itself* almost impossible. Thus the "Dhvani School" admits *rasa* and *alaṃkāra* as important factors of poetry, which are thus not exclusively monopolised by the so-called Alaṃkāra and Rasa Schools. It is doubtful, again, if a Rasa School, properly so-called was at all founded by Bharata, who is taken as its original exponent, or a similar Alaṃkāra School by Bhāmaha. All that we can