Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c85.1

v2.c85.1

The foregoing sketch of the progress of the principal schools and systems, terminating in the dominance of the Dhvani school, will make it clear that the history of Sanskrit Poetics is marked by two or three well-defined stages¹. The dim beginnings of the science are indeed hidden from us, but we enter upon the first historic stage of its formulation, in a more or less developed form, in the works of Bhāmaha and Daṇḍin. This is followed by a fruitful and creative stage, ending with Abhinavagupta, in which the theories of the different schools or systems were settled in their general outlines, giving rise to four distinct schools of opinion, respectively represented by the rasa-, alaṃkāra-, rīti- and dhvani-systems. It covers more than three centuries, and includes some of the great names in the history of the discipline, like those of Bhāmaha, Udbhaṭa and Rudraṭa, of Loṭṭaṭa, Śaṅkuka and Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka, of Daṇḍin and Vāmana, of the Dhvanikāra, Ānandavardhana and Abhinavagupta, of Kuntala, Mahimabhaṭṭa and Bhoja : all of whom helped, in a constructive or destructive way, to shape the different currents of thought which ultimately ran into one stream in the textbook of Mammaṭa.