History of Sanskrit Poetics c6.40

c6.40

It is by no means to be supposed that all or even many works on Poetics attempt the treatment of all these topics. The works on Poetics fall into several groups. (1) Some like the साहित्यदर्पण and the प्रतापरुद्रयशोभूषण traverse the whole field of Poetics (including dramaturgy). (II) Most of the well-known works on Poetics confine themselves to the topics indicated above except dramaturgy e. g. the काव्यादर्श, the काव्यालङ्कार-सूत्र of वामन, काव्यालङ्कारs of भामह, रुद्रट and वाग्भट, the काव्यप्रकाश, रसगङ्गाधर etc. In the present book also it has not been possible for reasons of space to include a full account of the works on dramaturgy except in a few cases (where the rasa theory is concerned). (III) Some works treat of only dramaturgy and the theory of rasa, such as the नाट्यशास्त्र, the दशरूपक. (IV) Many works are concerned with अलङ्कारas alone e. g. अलङ्कारसार-संग्रह, अलङ्कारसर्वस्व, कुवलयानन्द, चित्रमीमांसा. (V) A few are concerned with the exposition of some special theory of poetics, viz. the ध्वन्यालोक on the ध्वनि theory, the वक्रोक्तिजीवित, व्यक्तिविवेक. (VI) Some works deal only with the powers of words, viz. अभिधा etc. such as the अभिधावृत्तिमातृका, वृत्तिवार्तिक, शब्दव्यापारविचार. (VII) A few deal only with the theory of rasa (without treating of dramaturgy) such as the शृङ्गारतिलक, रस्तरङ्गिणी. (VIII) Several dilate upon only some special matters such as the रसमञ्जरी (where नायिकाs and their sub-divisions and other kindred topics are discussed). The यशस्तिलक vol. 1 p. 479 (3rd आश्वास verse 274, Nir. ed.) quotes ‘त्रिमूलकं द्विोत्थानं पञ्चशाखं चतुश्छदम् । योऽङ्गं वेत्ति नवच्छायं दशभूमि स काव्यकृत् ॥’. त्रिमूलकं-लोको वेदोध्यात्मं (compare व्यक्तिविवेक on p. 7 and p. 35 n 2 above); द्विोत्थानं refers to शब्दार्थौ, पञ्चशाखं to five वृत्तिs, परुषा, उपनागरिका, ग्राम्या &c.; चतुश्छदं refers to four रीतिs; अङ्गं=वृद्धं; नवच्छायं =नवरसपूर्णं दशभूमि दशगुणकम् .