Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c83.45

v2.c83.45

poetry and that it includes the *vācya* as well, as one of its varieties. The Dhvanikāra, therefore, apparently declares that the expressed sense is also the essence of poetry, although this, as Viśvanātha objects, is opposed to his own statement in the first line of his work, which speaks of the suggested sense alone as the essence of poetry in accordance with the tradition of ancient thinkers. Abhinavagupta tries to reconcile these two apparently conflicting dicta by supposing that the real object of the Dhvanikāra in i 2 is to distinguish between the *vācya* and the *pratīyamāna* sense, and not to establish both as the 'soul' of poetry. The objection is really over-fastidious; for it can be easily shown that in the elaboration of the theory, the suggested sense is throughout taken as the *ātman*.