A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s2.36

v3.c35.s2.36

According to Daṇḍin, every poem needs consist of a body and an embellishment³. By the body of a poem is understood the set of words in a sentence, set so as to suit the desired meaning. This set of words is capable of being put either in a metrical (padya), non-metrical (gadya) or mixed (miśra) style. For the metrical language he prescribes a large number of metres, measured either way: according to syllables or according to mora. One must learn this from metrics (chandoviciti), “which is a veritable ship for those who want to go across the vast ocean of poetry.” But metre is not the most important thing in poetry. Kāvya, according to the general conception of Indian critics can be equally well written in verse or in prose. That is why the nature of poetry is not rigidly fixed. No Indian could ever imagine that versification might become poetry too. When, for example, a scientific work is written in verses, as so frequently is met with in India, it might be said that it belonged to poetry. Grammars, dictionaries, astronomical or medical works written in verse are not poems, but manuals written in verse, able to impress memory more easily than if written in prose. However, there are truly scientific works that are in touch poetic as well; for instance the Bṛhatsaṁhitā of Varāhamihira. On the contrary when a prose novel is endowed with all the possible alaṁkāras in accordance with the rules, it belongs to kāvya, as a class and, in fact, is as good a poetry as an epic.