[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021) › c10.s3 # 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 - **Language:** English ### Concepts and Categories of Vāda in Literary Theory ### [c10.s3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.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](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.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](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.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](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.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. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c10.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c10.s3) · Pramāṇa