Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c83.26

v2.c83.26

The formulators of the *dhvani*-theory do not enter into these minute discussions but appear to recognise them implicitly, although most writers from the time of Mammaṭa (who deals with these questions in his *Kāvya-prakāśa* as well as separately in his *Śabdavyāpāra-paricaya*) start with a preliminary analysis of word-function, and some later works like Appayya’s *Vṛtti-vārttika* are devoted specially to the subject. All writers from Ānandavardhana’s time accept as a rule the *abhidhā* and *lakṣaṇā*, but they are not unanimous with regard to the *tātparya* as a separate function, which they take as included in the *vyañjanā* *vṛtti*, this being the third and and most important function established by the Dhvani school as the theoretical foundation of *dhvani* or the ‘suggested sense’ in poetry. The *vyañjanā* or power of suggestion is generally defined as that function of a word or its sense by which a further meaning comes into being, when the other functions, viz., *abhidhā* and *lakṣaṇā*, are exhausted in their scope. Ideas or notions are what are conveyed by words through their powers of Denotation and Indication; these, put together in a sentence, convey a complete thought through the supposed power of the sentence, styled Purport. Now, another power is postulated by which a deeper sense, the *vyaṅgya artha*, is revealed, consequent upon but distinct from the simple thought¹⁴. All good poetry, called *par excellence dhvani-kāvya*¹⁵, must have such a sense implicit in it, a sense which can only be realised by the *vyañjanā-vṛtti* or power of suggestion postulated by this school.