A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s2.65

v3.c35.s2.65

Whilst the oldest Indian rhetoricians like Daṇḍin were satisfied with defining and classifying the alaṃkāras and with rejecting the view that the essence of poetry lay in embellishments, Vāmana, who lived about 800 A.D. in the court of the King Jayāpīḍa of Kashmir², first of all raised the question about the true nature of poetry and answered it by saying *rītirātmā kāvyasya*, "the soul of poetry abides in the style," i.e., in combination of certain excellences of diction. His Kāvyālaṃkāravṛtti³ consists of a theoretical section on aesthetics and a practical section on grammar. The latter¹ contains rules on prosody and grammar, in which, with regard to the rules of Pāṇini's grammar, the poet is advised as to how he should be able to write in correct Sanskrit.