Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c85.86

v2.c85.86

the persuasion by means of affectionate words; the statement in succession of several means to attain a desired object; the suggestion and strengthening of one view by a different view; the reproach; the respectful enquiry; the employment of names of well known persons or things in eulogy of the person or thing under description; the mistaken resemblance of apparently similar things causing resentment; the offer of oneself in the service of another; the flattering statement; the employment of a comparison to convey a sense which is not directly desired; the indirect expression of desire; the veiled compliment; and the expression of gratitude in pleasing terms. The nāṭyâlaṃkāras are the benediction, the lamentation, the deception, the unforgiving attitude, the arrogant expression, the expression of a resolution or of an excellent purpose, the raillery, the desire for a charming object, the agitation due to reproach, the repentance for missing an object through folly, the use of an argument, the longing for an object, the request, the commencement of an undesirable act, the mentioning of a purpose, the provocation, the reproach, the observance of the śāstras, the covert rebuke administered by citing a common opinion, the narration, the prayer, the apology, the reminding of a duty neglected, the recounting of previous history, the determination of an act by reasoning, the ecstacy and the instruction. It will be seen that the division is not only overlapping, but both the lakṣaṇas and the nāṭyâlaṃkāras refer largely to modes of exposition, to the use of what other writers would regard as specific figures or excellences of diction, or they may sometimes appertain to the feelings and emotions which come within the sphere of rasa and bhāva. This fact is recognised very early by Daṇḍin who includes lakṣaṇas under alaṃkāras manuals³⁰ one of which is directly based on Jayadeva's work, and to Viśveśvara's *Alaṃkāra-kaustubha*³¹, both of which are indeed remarkable for their elaborate treatment of poetic figures and have merits of their own, but which are in reality nothing more than elementary textbooks, excellent résumés which methodically register previous speculations on the subject. There is such a general sameness of characteristics, such a monotony of treatment, as well as repetition of conventional topics in conventional phraseology, that it is not worth while to linger over the activity of these lesser writers. The work of the great Kashmiriyan writers was over, and although Bengal and the Deccan had come into prominence as fields of later activity, the age of really original or thoughtful writers was long gone by. It was succeeded by an age of commentators, interpreters and critics (some of them were very able and painstaking) as long as there was the need of critical elaboration, of understanding and explaining a great author. But in course of time, even this became superfluous, and there was nothing