Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c80.10

v2.c80.10

The two important factors, which go to make up the *kāvya-śarīra*, i. e., the ‘body’ or external framework of poetry, are supposed to be *śabda* (word) and the *alaṃkāras* likened to external ornaments like bracelets which adorn the body. This view is apparently accepted by Mammaṭa (viii 1) and taken as authoritative by all subsequent writers, while Nami-sādhu (on Rudraṭa xii 2) gives a similar but not accurate explanation of Rudraṭa’s opinion on the subject. The final extension of this metaphorical conception is thus set forth by Viśvanātha: *kāvyasya śabdārthau śarīram, rasādis cātmā, guṇāḥ saundaryādivat, doṣāḥ kāṇatvādivat, rītayo’vayava-saṃsthāna-viśeṣavat, alaṃkārāḥ kaṭaka-kuṇḍalādivat*, thus comprehending all the elements of poetry, discussed by previous writers, into this elaborate metaphor. Whatever may be the value of this metaphor as an index to the conception of poetry gradually evolved by Indian theorists, one point is clear, viz., that they all take, from Bhāmaha to Jagannātha, the *śabda* and *artha* as constituting what they call the ‘body’ of poetry, and with this idea the theories start, ultimately ending in a search for its ‘soul’. From another point of view, the *śabda* and *artha* form the central pivot round which all theories move (for they are all theories starting with *expression*) with particular reference to the question of the function *par excellence* operative in poetry. And as the study of Poetics itself, on the admission of some of its greatest exponents, drew its original inspiration from grammatico-philosophical speculations on speech, it is not surprising that enormous emphasis should be put on these two elements.