Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c87.20

v2.c87.20

A summary of the main topics dealt with in the *Kāvya-kalpalatā* and its *vṛtti* will make the standpoint clear and give an idea of the general scope and nature of such works. The first *pratāna* of this work is called *chandaḥ-siddhi* (prosody) and consists of five sections on (i) the construction of the *anuṣṭup* metre (*anuṣṭup-śāsana*). (ii) enumeration of the principal metres, shifts in grammatical forms of the verb, Prakrit loan-words (where Hemacandra seems to be superficially quoted), transmutation of one's own or another poet's ideas into the same or different metres, conversion of one metre into another, caesura (*yati*), the whole section being generally entitled *chandóbhyāsa*. (iii) use of expletive particles and words for filling up the verse (*chandaḥ-pūraṇa*), such as *śrī*, *sam*, *sat*, *drāk*, *vi*, *pra* etc. (*sāmānya-śabdaka*). (iv) argumentation, pointed sayings, subjects of laudation or vituperation, interrogations e.g. in *kula-śāstrādi*, *sva-śāstrādhyayana-prathā* etc. (*vāda*). (v) subjects for descriptive poetry, and how to describe the king, his ministers, the prince, the army, battle and hunting, as well as a city, a village, a garden, a lake and so forth; enumeration of the kavi-samayas (*varnya-sthiti*). The second chapter, called *sabda-siddhi* treats of etymology, derived meanings of compounds, alliteration and rhyme in the middle of a verse, with a list of words suitable for this purpose, enumeration of *sambandhin* expressions; denoted, indicated and suggested meanings, showing the influence of the Dhvani school. The next chapter, entitled *slesa-siddhi*, upon play on words of various kinds, consists of the following sections: (i) composing of words in such a way that they can be read differently according as they are divided, with a list of *slesopayogi* words, (ii) a kind of *slesa* occuring in the description of an object by analogies, in each of which the same quality or condition has to be traced in the same words or in synonyms, (iii) cases of double meaning, produced by homonyms capable of widely different interpretations, (iv) ambiguity produced by similarity of inflections of different origins, (v) surprises of different kinds, such as verses in which the same consonant or vowel is repeated in each syllable, verses spread out in diagrams to be read in different ways, e.g. according to the move of the knight in chess etc :—a subject which is treated in some detail, for instance, in the *Vidagdha-mukha-mandana* of Dharmadasa Suri¹². The last chapter called *artha-siddhi*, is devoted to the construction of similes, ellipsis and similar figures, and gives long lists of parallelisms arising from like conditions or attributes of the objects compared, e.g. the lips may be compared to the coral, to the bimba fruit or fresh-blown twigs and so forth.