Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c80.92

v2.c80.92

A development is also noticeable in the general conception of a *kāvyālaṃkāra* or poetic figure. It is true that a "poetic" figure corresponds to a certain extent to "speech-figure", or to what is known as a figure of speech in a formal scheme; but later theorists explain that something more belongs to a poetic figure as such. The special charm, known as *vaicitrya* or *vicchitti*, peculiar to each composition, which rests ultimately on the conception or skill of the poet (*kavi-pratibhā* or *kavi-kauśala*) makes up the *kāvyālaṃkāra* as such, and gives it its distinguishing characteristic. This view would be entirely omitted in a treatise on rhetoric merely; and with this point of view it is misleading to describe the theory of *alaṃkāra* as a theory of rhetorical categories only. Originally it might have been, more or less, a theory of externals, but the problem was complicated by the appearance of this new factor of thought, first introduced by Kuntala and then elaborated in the sphere of individual figures by Ruyyaka, Jayaratha and others, the development of which will be traced hereafter in its proper place.