Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c81.s1.4

v2.c81.s1.4

We have already stated that Daṇḍin is influenced, to some extent, by the teachings of the Alaṃkāra school, and as such stands midway in his view between the *alaṃkāra*-system of Bhāmaha and the *rīti*-system of Vāmana. At the same time, there can be no doubt that in theory he allies himself distinctly with the views of Vāmana. In Vāmana, however, we find the system in its completely self-conscious form; and here we have nothing of that vagueness or indefiniteness which characterises the rival *alaṃkāra*-system of Udbhaṭa. With a clear-cut scheme and a definite central principle, Vāmana proceeds to set forth his system in the brief but succint *sūtra*-form; and whatever may be the value of his speculations, there can be no doubt that Vāmana was the first writer to enunciate a definite theory which, before the Dhvanikāra, must have had great influence on the study of Poetics.