Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c85.32

v2.c85.32

The above sketch of Viśvanātha’s general position will sufficiently indicate that he is more or less a compiler and not an original writer, although he shows some constructive genius in elaborating a full and compact system of his own on the basis of *rasa-dhvani*. His borrowings from Ānandavardhana, Mammaṭa and Ruyyaka are very extensive, and sometimes his judgment forsakes him, making him copy his originals rather slavishly. He is not always happy in his innovation, and sometimes (though rarely) he is positively wrong in his interpretation. In spite of these and other defects his work is interesting in the history of Sanskrit Poetics as an attempt at a further development of the *dhvani*-theory out of itself, an attempt to which recognition was not universally accorded by other strict followers of the theory. The *Sāhitya-darpaṇa*, written like the *Kāvya-prakāśa* in the form of *kārikā* new school. Viśvanātha alludes to *vṛttis* under *vṛttyanuprāsa* and simply says (after Ruyyaka): *rasa-viṣaya vyāpāravati varṇa-racanā vṛttiḥ, tadanugatātvena prakarṣena nyasanād vṛttyanuprāsaḥ*.