Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c84.82

v2.c84.82

In the treatment of *alaṃkāras*, Bhoja is one of the earliest writers to follow the *Agni-purāṇa's*, classification into three groups, viz. *śabdālaṃkāra*, *arthālaṃkāra*, and *ubhayālaṃkāra*. Without entering into details here, we may state that Bhoja's treatment is much fuller²⁸. He enumerates, for instance, and defines the largest number of *śabdālaṃkāras* mentioned by any author, namely twenty-four, and develops further the treatments of Daṇḍin, the *Agni-purāṇa* and Rudraṭa. The number of *arthālaṃkāras*, however, is surprisingly limited, and a love of symmetry probably leads him to enumerate them also as twenty-four in number, which is also the number of the *ubhayālaṃkāras*. The most curious chapter is that which deals with the last-named class of poetic figures, which includes figures like *upamā*, *rūpaka*, *utprekṣā*, *dīpaka*, *atiśaya*, and other well-recognised *arthālaṃkāras*. Mammaṭa later on admits this three-fold classification of poetic figures, which is not recognised by all, but unlike Bhoja, he includes a very limited number in the mixed third class, such as *punaruktavadābhāsa*, in which stress is laid equally on *śabda* and *artha*.