A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s2.28

v3.c35.s2.28

That Bhāmaha, the son of Rakrilagomin, is the oldest among native rhetoricians (those whose works have survived to date), stand to reason on weighty grounds³, although we are position to determine his exact date. He is often quoted by later rhetoricians with high esteem. His Kāvyālaṁkāra¹ is written in ślokas and treats in six sections of the "body of poetry", the embellishments, the faults, the logic and grammatical correctness of poetry. In the introductory verses Bhāmaha refutes the idea that one can become a poet only through mastery of rhetorics, and stresses the importance of poetic genius: