Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c83.38

v2.c83.38

Some of the oldest and most aggressive objectors to the admission of the *vyañjanā-vṛtti* are the adherents of the *anumāna*-theory, whose views are refuted at some length by Ānandavardhana himself, but who are represented to us in later literature by Mahimabhatta in his *Vyakti-viveka*, a work which was written with the avowed object of establishing that the suggested sense can be arrived at by the process of syllogistic reasoning. Most of these controversies belong to the realm of scholastic speculation and are far removed from actual Poetics. We shall deal with Mahimabhatta's theory in its proper place; it will suffice here to set forth the theory in its general outline as it obtained in Ānandavardhana's time and notice the arguments with which it is sought to be disproved.