Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c10.s3: Concepts and Categories of Vāda in Literary Theory
Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c10.s3
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Concepts and Categories of Vāda in Literary Theory
c10.s3.1
Alaṁkāraśāstra (literary theory) has especially adopted categories and concepts from the philosophy of *vāda*. *Vākovākya* a figure of speech defined by Bhoja comes as a direct reflection of the concept of *vāda* in poetics. As per Bhoja’s definition, *vākovākya* is formed by exchange of words between two or more persons by the way of strong assertions and repartees.¹⁴ Viśveśvara in his *Camatkāracandrikā* reproduces this definition.
c10.s3.2
There are *alaṁkāras* (figures of speech) based on the *pramāṇas* (means of knowledge). Bhoja in his *Śṛṅgāraprakāśa* has given a very profound and subtle treatment of *pramāṇālaṁkāras*. Other *alaṁkāras* based on the techniques of logic (*vāda*) are *kāvyaliṅga* (also called *hetu*), *kāraṇamālā* (series of causes), *uttara* (reply) and *asaṅgati* (incongruity).
c10.s3.3
*Alaṁkāras* like *Kāvyaliṅga* and *Kāraṇamālā* are based on concepts of causality in Nyāya philosophy. Whereas *alaṁkāras* like *Vakrokti* are based on the concept of *chala*. In *alaṁkāras* like *Saṁśaya* and *Bhrāntimān* a world of aesthetics is created on the edifice of their concepts of *vāda*.
c10.s3.4
*Vakrokti* as an *alaṁkāra* is defined as “the utterance of one person misconstrued by the other on the basis of pun or intonation”.¹⁵ *Vakrokti* in this way is an aesthetic rendering of *chala*. In Sanskrit lyric poetry, this idea of *vakrokti* led to the cultivation of a genre entirely resting on debate between two persons and thousands of stanzas, and even long poems were created as *vakrokti-kāvyas*. This is being taken up in a next section.