Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c81.s1.2

v2.c81.s1.2

Daṇḍin comes chronologically after Bhāmaha, and Vāmana, who comes after Daṇḍin, was contemporaneous with Bhāmaha's commentator Udbhaṭa; but the *rīti*-system, which Daṇḍin and Vāmana represent in Poetics, was probably older in tradition than Bhāmaha himself, who half-contemptuously rejects the distinction between *vaidarbha* and *gauḍa kāvya*. It can be traced back to the time of Bāṇabhaṭṭa (first-half of the 7th century) who tells us that the Gauḍas were already notorious for *akṣara-ḍambara*, to which fact Daṇḍin also alludes in his depreciation of the *gauḍa mārga*. It would be seen that although the terms *mārga* or *rīti* in the technical sense might not have been very ancient, both Daṇḍin and Vāmana themselves indicate that some such system as they advocate was traditionally existent; and they appear to refer to and sometimes actually quote from unknown expositors of the past¹. It is probable that the Rīti school, if we use this term to separate those writers who put an emphasis on *rīti* as the most important element of poetry, had an independent origin and history, and existed for a long time side by side with the sister schools, which threw into prominence the elements of *rasa*, *alaṃkāra* or *dhvani* respectively.