Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c10.s15.3

c10.s15.3

*Vakrokti*, a vital and pervasive concept of poetics as outlined by Bhāmaha (sixth-seventh century CE) and Kuntaka (ninth century CE), was narrowed to a small figure of speech by theorists like Mammaṭa. Interestingly, however, *vakrokti* as a figure of speech is completely based on the techniques of debate. Mammaṭa in his *Kāvyaprakāśa* defines *vakrokti* as an *alaṃkāra* where the contention of someone is misconstrued deliberately with an entirely different motive through pun on words or through intonations (*kāku*). This is defined as *chala* in Gautama’s *Nyāyasūtra*. The divisions of *chala* — *vāk-chala* and *upacāra-chala* — cover both the types of *vakrokti* as defined by Mammaṭa. Literary tradition in Sanskrit abounds with beautiful examples of figurative poetry based on these categories to form *vakrokti alaṃkāra*. In the propitiatory verse of his *Mudrārākṣasa*, Viśākhadatta presents a debate between Pārvatī and Śiva through the following dialogues: