Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c10.s7: Debates on the Theory of Alaṁkāra

Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c10.s7

Language: English

Debates on the Theory of Alaṁkāra

c10.s7.1

The idea of *alaṁkāra* as extraordinary nature of art comes from the hymns of *Ṛgveda*. The *ācāryas* have termed it as *alambhāva* or *alaṁkārabhāva*. Abhinavagupta says:

c10.s7.2

Remaining in the state of extraordinariness is *alambhāva* or *alaṁkārabhāva* (*lokottīrṇena rūpeṇa āvasthānam ityayameva asau alaṁkārabhāvaḥ*).²⁵

Daṇḍin (around sixth century CE) and Vāmana (eighth century CE) accepted this broad view of *alaṁkāra* and included *rasa* as a part of *alaṁkāra*. What is *kāvya*? *Kāvya* created through *ukti* (verbal expression) but then this *ukti* is not an ordinary expression, it is *uktiviśeṣa* (an extraordinary expression). Therefore poetry is defined as *iṣṭārtha-vyavacchinnāpadāvalī* (a series of words qualified by meanings which are imbued with charm).

c10.s7.4

The poetic expression therefore has extraordinary quality which can be termed as *alaṁkāra* in a wider sense of the term. This extraordinariness in the poetic expression comes from (i) visualizing things in their real nature, (ii) describing them through extraordinary words and meanings, and (iii) expressing the emotions. Adjusting the concepts of Daṇḍin in a broad framework, Bhoja therefore defined three kinds of *ukti* (verbal expression) in poetry— *svabhāvokti*, *vakrokti* and *rasokti*. *Rasa* also forms a part of this broad framework of the extraordinary nature of poetry, i.e. *alaṁkāra*.

c10.s7.5

The theory of *alaṁkāra* presented a holistic purview of the aesthetic structures in literature. It posited a challenge before the Dhvanivādins who used the process of *vyañjnā* to develop an idealist and subjective view. There have been fierce debates between these that have continued till recent times. Modern theorists in Sanskrit rhetorics treat *alaṁkāra* as the quintessence in literature. The very prefix *alam* in the term *alaṁkāra* gives its ultimate nature indicating it as the *summum bonum* in art. *Alaṁkāra* is treated as a vital and dynamic concept encompassing the process of creativity which runs on the four levels — *bhūṣaṇa* (decoration or embellishment), *vāraṇa* (negation or elimination), *paryāpti* (sufficiency) and *śakti* (capability). These levels of creativity are correlated to the surface structure, deep structure and deeper structure in an art form. The attainment of *pūrṇatā* (completeness) through this process is *alaṁkāra*. In this completeness, each and every category in an art piece would compete with the other ones in an ascending order for creating excellence, encompassing the *lokas* or the three levels of human existence, i.e. *ādhibhautika* (empirical), *ādhidaivika* (psychic) and *ādhyātmika* (spiritual). These three levels of human existence can be further correlated with the three paths in human life — *karma* (action), *bhakti* (devotion) and *jñāna* (knowledge); and their applications in literature envisage interrelationships with three functions of the word (*abhidhā*, *lakṣaṇā* and *vyañjanā*). *Alaṁkāras* like *bhāvika* and *udātta* are embedded in the whole structure of a literary piece and involve a complete discourse of forms like drama or novel also.²⁶

Linked texts (1)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit