A History of Sanskrit Literature c27.s2.16

c27.s2.16

Poetical form moreover was often injurious. It led to the use of redundant expressions merely to fill up the verses, or on the other hand to undue condensation and ellipsis, with resulting obscurity. Clearness was much furthered by the adoption of the later scientific style which is seen at its best probably in the expositions of law and in the works on poetics; Vijñāneçvara, Ānandavardhana, and Ruyyaka in their prose expositions prove decisively the superiority of this form to the obscurity left by the use of verse. The controversy which exists as to the exact meaning of Bhāmaha’s description of the Ākhyāyikā and Kathā would have been avoided had he written in prose.²