Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c80.49

v2.c80.49

Bhāmaha defines *atiśayokti* as *nimittato vaco yat tu lokātikrānta-gocaram* (ii 81), which Daṇḍin paraphrases as *vivakṣā yā viśeṣasya loka-sīmātivartinī* (ii 214). It would seem, therefore, that the *atiśaya* in the *vakratā* of poetic figures consists essentially in this *lokātikrānta-gocaratā*, and Abhinava makes this clear when he explains in this connexion (*Locana* p. 208): *śabdasya hi vakratā abhidheyasya ca vakratā lokottīrṇena rūpeṇāvasthānam*. From this it is reasonable to conclude that by *vakratā* Bhāmaha implies a kind of heightened or extraordinary turn given to expression (what Kuntala would call *bhaṅgī* or *vicchitti*), which constitutes the charm or strikingness of poetic expression, as distinguished from common speech where facts are simply stated. We shall see that Kuntala elaborates this idea by the peculiar theory of *vaicitrya* or *vicchitti* (which is taken as almost equivalent to the term *vakratā*) of word and sense as forming the basis of all poetic decoration (the so-called poetic figures being mere aspects of it), whereby the poet lifts ordinary speech to the level of extraordinary poetic utterance.