Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c85.16

v2.c85.16

4 See above p. 130. We have seen above that Mammaṭa explains away the so-called excellences of sense (*artha-guṇas*), so that the *guṇas* are confined to the sphere of sound. They are produced by a particular arrangement of letters (*varṇa*), compounds (*samāsa*) and style of composition (*racanā*). Thus the *mādhurya* or sweetness results from the employment of (i) all *sparśa* letters or mutes (from *k* to *m*), excepting the cerebrals (*ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, ḍh*) coming with the last letters (nasals) of their respective class, (ii) *r* and *ṇ* with short vowels; as well as from (iii) complete absence of compounds or presence of short compounds. The *ojas* or energy is produced by (i) compound letters formed by the combination of the first and third letters of a class with the letters immediately following them (i.e., with the second and fourth letters respectively) (ii) conjunct consonants of which *r* forms a part, (iii) cerebrals other than *ṇ* (which letter is indicative of *mādhurya*) (iv) doubled letters, i. e., combinations of the same letters, (v) palatal and cerebral sibilants (*ś, ṣ*), (vi) long compounds, and (vii) a formidable or bombastic style. For obvious is followed by most later writers. Although the the poetic figures are not, in his opinion, always necessary to poetry ⁵, he rounds off his treatise with an elaborate analysis and illustration of figures of sound and sense (including a limited number of figures which are of a mixed kind), enumerating as many as sixty-seven independent figures.