IKS. ASSIGNMENT

                             Maharanishree Nankuwarba Arts And Commerce College 

                              Name :- Rizvi syeda mariyam zehra 

                             Subject :- major 13 (IKS)

                             Year :-    T.Y.B.A sem 5 

                             Home assignment, class assignment, essay 

 

   

Class assignment 

                

                                           ANANDAVARDHANA – DHVANI THEORY

The theory of Dhvani in the field of Indian Poetics is not only a contribution to

 Sanskritlanguage, but also to the Universal rhetoric and aesthetics. The theme of aesthetics is been 

inherited through the Natya Shastra of Bharata and has been discussed by many scholars in their

works and propounded different theories too. Along with the Rasa theory of Bharata we can

name such six more theories which are been originated and propagated by different authors.

They are (1) Alankara school of Bamaha and Udbhata, (2) The Guna school of Dandi (though

Dandi has not specially said, but his focus was more on Guna) (3) The Riti School of Vamana,

(4) The Dhvani school of Ananda Vardhana (5) The Vakrokti school of Kuntaka and (6) The

Auchitya school of Kshemendra. Among them Ananda Vardhana occupied a very important

place, whose views have been revealed the subtleties of great poems like Ramayana,

Mahabharata and opened the minds of the authors on poetics. Almost all the authors on poetics

talked directly or indirectly about the both Sabda (sound) and Artha (meaning) constitute the

Kavya Sarira – the body of poem. These words and their bmeaning should be free from

blemishes (Dosas). When Dandi coined Padavali – the group of words by itself is taken as Sarira

only and meaning which is accompanied with great merit adds embellishment to poetry; the

quest for the soul of Kavya has started. If the inner meaning of the poetry is suggestive,

figurative and expressive then it leads evoking the desired Rasa. Vamana is the first one to coin

this inner meaning as Atma – the soul of poetry as Riti – the style, from then onwards

Alankarikas started phrasing the term Atma in their works, Anandvardhana said Dhvani is the

Atma of Kavya, Viswanatha said Rasa is the Atma, Kuntaka said Vakrokti, Kshemendra asserted

that Auchitya is the life of Kavya. Thus there was vast divergence in the opinions of rhetoricians.

They are divided Pre-Dhvani school (Pracina School) of Bamaha, Dandi, Vamana and others

who focused on Alankara (figures of speech) as they are, linger around word and its meaning

(Sabdalankaras and Arthalankaras). Anandavardhana with his theory of Dhvani pointed out that

the reader should go beyond the meaning to capture the suggested or hinted meaning. This new

school of thought (Navina School) has completely changed the trend of later rhetoricians. Sabda

and Artha which one directly expressed (Vachya) but a Sahrudaya ( a Sympathetic critic or a

responsive reader, man of taste) gets delighted by grasping the suggested essence –the Rasa

through Vyangya. The epoch making work of Anandavardhana – the Dhvanyaloka makes an

attempt to study poetics from the aesthetics point of view, by giving prominence to Rasa.

The author of Dhvanyaloka Anandavardhana lived approximately in the 9th century AD,

shows great erudition and critical insight in his work. It was written in lucid from and with

originality. Dhvanyaloka is divided into four Udhyotas and written in three parts – the Karika,

Vritti and examples. Often the prose explanation (Vritti) is at great length, and examples are

taken from Prakrit texts and from earlier eminent poets. Abhinavagupta wrote an extensive

commentary ‘Locana’ which is compared as eye to look into Dhvanyaloka.

                                             Contents of the text Dhvanayaloka:

In the first Udhyota Anandavardhana establishes his theory that Dhvani – suggestion is the

soul of poetry. He refers to three different views of those who are against the doctrine of Dhvani-

(1) Dhvanyabhavavaadins likesome saying that Dhvani does not exist, (2) Bhaktavaadins_some

regard that it is included in Lakshana, and . (3) Anirvachaniyatavaadins

– others speak its essence as lying beyond the scope of words which is known only to the men

of literary taste. The beautiful idea of poetry is of two types expressed (Vacya) and implied

(Pratiyamana). The expressed meaning is known to all in the form of Alankaras (the figures of

speech). The implied or suggested sense is something like the distinct charm in the ladies other

than the beauty of the various limbs of the body. The implied sense is quite different than the

literal meaning and not just merely on its parts and exists in the poetry of great poets.

The Pratiyamanartha – implicit aspect cannot be understood by the people who merely know

grammar and lexicon but it can be understood by men who are the admirers of poetry. The

suggested sense is principal element in poetry. When suggested sense, is prominent it is called

Dhvani Kavya. In all good poetry Dhvani is found as important element. Such poetry in which

the sound and its explicit meaning become subordinate and implicit meaning embraces various

divisions such as the bare idea, figures of speech and sentiment is called the highest type of

poetry. In figures of speech like Samasokti, Akashepa, Paryayaokti, Slesha, Visheshokti,

Apahnuti etc there is no Dhvani. Because the Vacya-expliciî/direct /denotative or conventional

meaning in much prominent than the Vyangya – implicit or suggested meaning. This type of

poetry has charm but not as much as Dhvani Kavya, hence called as Gunibhuta Vyangya Kavya.

The implicit aspect/suggested meaning is of three kinds (1) Vastu – the plot, (2) Alankara – the

figures of speech and (3) Rasa – the sentiment and there are many sub-division to these three.

Dhvani is two-fold Avivakshita Vacya where the literal meaning is not intended to be conveyed

hence further extended literal import is needed and Vivakshitanyapara vacya is where literal

import is intended but sub-serves the implied meaning.

He closes the first Udhyata by clearing all objections of the people who are anti-Dhvani theory

with all illustrations. He shows Dhvani is neither identical with Bhakti (Lakshna) the secondary

meaning nor is incapable of defining and illustrated.

In the second Udhyota he deals with sub varieties of Avivakshita vacya in to Arthantara

Sankramita and Atyanta tiraskrita and gives examples of each. He divides Vivakshitanyapar

vacya into Asmlakshya Kramavyangya and samlakshyakramavyangs. The Asmlakshya

Kramavyangya which can be considered as Rasadhvani is constituted by Rasa, Bhava, Rasabhasa

and Bhavabhasa and Bhavaprashana and others are subordinate, and also the difference between

Gunas and Alankaras, sub divisions of Samlakshya Kramavyangya into Sabdaskti moola and

Asthashakti moola, sub division of Arthashaktimoola into vastu and Alankara and etc were

discussed with suitable examples of Alankara Dhvani.

III Udhyota is dealt with sub-divisions of Dhvani based upon Vyanjaka, Padaprakasha, Vakya

Prakasha, three kinds of Sanghatana and how it depends upon its appropriations of speaker, the

Sense, the Plot and Rasa. How is Rasa is manifested, sustained and how Alankaras become

suitable to evoke Rasa, the things that are opposed to arouse the Rasa, the importance of five

stages (Mukha, Pratimukha, Garbha, Avamarsha and Nirvhana to lead Rasa manifestation, light

on how the establishment of Shanta the Rasa , varieties of Kavyas like Gunibhuta, Chitra, and

Dhvani due to the poets Pratibha

IV Udhyota elaborates the fresh aspects in the domain of Dhvani, and Gunibhuta how the

same idea can appear new with poet’s imaginations, his concern about Rasa, Karuna Rasa in

Ramayana and Shanta Rasa in Shastra Kavya Mahabharata, as the principal Rasas , establishing

the province of poetry is unlimited though hundreds of poets composing hundreds of works

continuously. There is no dearth of good quality of poetry for the imagination of poet, the same

thought, same idea can be suggested in a number of ways with charming expressions.

Home assignment 

                                                      Kuntak's Vakrokti Theory

About the Chapter:

This module is about famous Sanskrit rhetorician, literary theorist Kuntaka and his theory of

poetry. He belongs to Vakrokti school of Sanskrit or ancient Indian poetics. This module briefly

talks about Kuntaka, his contemporary theorists, his role in poetics and linguistics. This module

also discusses about famous book, Vakrokti-Jivitam by Kuntaka. In conclusion, this module talks

about Kuntaka’s position in Indian literary theory.

                                                                 Introduction

Kuntaka is the originator of the Vakrokti school of Sanskrit literary theory. He came after

Anandvardhan of the 9th century and before Abhinavagupta of the 10th century. His time was

the time of high merit of Indian poetics. Dhananjaya and Rajashekhara were his contemporary

theorists. The theorists who appeared in the time of Kuntaka contributed a lot to what is in

different shape is considered as modern theories of literature and language. In this context,

Ganesh Devy says that Vakrorkti and the Alamkara are two Indian schools which are very close

to two Western schools of thought, formalism and new criticism.

Ganesh Devy commented, “Vakrokti is a theory of poetry which perceives poetry essentially

as terms of the language of its expression. It sees the poetic language as a language of metaphor

and suggestive communication”. Hence, Kuntaka’s contribution in poetic thought is not only the

matter of poetry or literature but it is about understanding the language, language of poetry and

its difference with the language of the common. Kuntaka’s opinions on language of poetry and

overall his study on language makes his position many steps further to the future. He is

considered as one of the early language theorists in India.

                                                       Kuntaka and Vakrokti-Jivitam

Anjalika Mukhopadhyay informs in her Bangla translation of Kuntaka’s Vakrokti-Jivitam that,

the manuscript of Kuntaka’s Vakrokti-Jivitam was appeared as final version with the initiative

and immense work done by Sushil Kumar Dey in 1922. This manuscript was found as

incomplete in four chapters. Some scholars assume this book has its fifth chapter also but it is not

proved yet. Scholars assume that Kuntak was a Kashmiri, because some hints were found in this

regard. It is also assumed that Kunataka was alive in the time between Anandavardhana and

Abhinavagupta. He appeared before Mahimbhatta, as Mahimbhatta mentioned about him in

different Slokas. If Mahimbhatta came in between 1020-1060 then Kuntaka was there in between

1000-1030. Kuntaka never mentioned Abhinavagupta and Abhinavagupta also never mentioned

Kuntaka; though he talked about Vakrokti. It means either they were contemporary to each other

or Kuntaka came after Abhinavagupta. Mahimbhatta, Hemachandra and Bhoja told that Kuntaka

was the author of the Karika and Britti of his Vakrokti-Jivitam, though some scholars have doubt

on this because the style of language found in the Karika and the Britti is completely different.

                                                             History of Vakrokti

The theory of Vakrokti is found even before Kuntaka had made it sophisticated and scientific

with his rare talent. Bhamaha among the theorists who talked about Vakrokti is most ancient.

Kuntaka primarily adopted Bhamaha’s idea of Vakrokti. Rudrat in his Kavyalankara (9th

century) also talked about Vakrokti. Vakrokti was generally perceived as a Shabdalankar only.

But it did not have much significance beyond its significance as Shabdlankar in Bhamaha,

Dandin and Bamana understands.

As an alamkara Vakrokti was very inclusive to Bhamaha. He included all types of alamkara

under the term of Vakrokti. According to Bhamaha Vakrokti is the soul of poetry. The way words

become different from daily conversation and gives pleasure to the mind of the rasika or one who

accomplishes poetry is vakrokti. Bhamaha did not accept Swabhabokti as a type of alamkara. But

Dandin accepted both Swabhavokti and vakrokti as alamkara. He believed poetry means

alamkara. If the daily use of language is reformulated with alamkara it becomes vakrokti and that

vakrokti is led by Slesha. And this is how vakrokti creates beauty in poetry.

Sreenivas Rao in his work on Kuntaka and Indian poetics says that “later, Rudrata treats

Vakrokti as a mere play of words or pretended speech”, which means that the word is meant for

one thing and it is understood by the readers as another thing. It happens because of the voice

and modulation of the reader of that particular poem. This difference in voice is known as Kaku,

which according to Rao is ‘peculiar intonation’ (Rao, Sreenivas;). And this changes the meaning

of the word. It also happens for the word having multiple meanings or at least two meanings and

each meaning has its logical implications which is known as Slesha. Rao added that Vamana

observes Vakrokti as an Artha-Alamkara where the hinted meaning of the word or lakshana is

replaced by the similarity or Sadrishya and therefore, to Vamana Vakrokti is nothing but a

metaphor. Hence the Vakrokti as an extended poetic term proposed by Bhamaha and Dandin

appeared as a limited term and a figure of speech only to Rudrata and Vamana. It is Kuntaka who

did the historical study of the theory of Vakrokti and placed it in a very significant theory of

poetry. He made differences between the language of poetry and the language of everyday life

with the reference of Vakrokti. According to him Vakrokti is a distinguishing factor of poetry and

it is one of the basic qualities of poetic language, it makes the composition of words a poem. He

is the true successor of Bhamaha and established Vakrokti as distinctive characteristics of all

alamkaras. His concept of Vakrokti also guides the poet to select the words while composing a

piece of poem. This idea is peculiar to poetry.

                                                                 What is Vakrokti ?

Kuntaka explains the definition of the term Vakrokti and its genealogical meaning. He mentions

that, “the term Vakrokti is composed of Vakra + Ukti, where the latter (Ukti) derived from

Vac-paribhashane can easily be taken to mean a poetic expression, a clever speech or a pithy

statement. It is however the former component (Vakra) of the term Vakrokti, evoking diverse

shades of meanings and suggestions, that is widely discussed and interpreted in various manners”

(Rao, Sreenivas;) 

Kuntaka, like many other theorists, also accepted the traditional definition of poetry. And this

definition says that the great juxtaposition and interwovenness of the sabda and artha makes a

piece poetry. But Kuntaka claimed that this interwoven relation of sabda and artha should have a

quality of Vakrata or Vaichitra. According to him the vakrota or vakrotva is the very quality of

poetry and it brings pleasure in the mind of the reader after or while one is reading the poem.

Vakrota is the very essence of the poetic speech or what is known as Kavyokti and it makes the

life of a poetry what is known as Jivita. And that is why the title of his book is Vakrokti-Jivita, it

is a biography of poetry, the title shows it talks about everything of a poetry. It speaks about the

being and becoming and after life of a poem.

According to him Vakrokti is a matter of Vaidagdhya or intelligence, but not only that, it

depends of the style or how the intelligence will create this matter, therefore he says that the

Vakrokti is Vaidagdhya-bhangi-bhanita (Rao, Sreenivas;). Therefore, the successful creation of

Vakrokti in poetry depends on the talent and skill or craftsmanship of a poet, what is known as

Kavi-Koushala (poetic art). This is how Kuntaka relates the talent, skill or craftsmanship of the

poet to create a successful poem which will be very unique in creating meaning and expression.

                                                           Kuntaka’s Vakrokti

According to Kuntaka Vakrokti is created by “Baidagdhabhangibhanitiruchyate”, which means

a poetic talent with his own creative power creates such attractive subject which being earthly,

sounds heavenly to the rasika or to the readers who has authority to accomplish. Swabhabvokti

defines or represents things or objects as it is there in the world of reality. Kuntaka argues there is

no credit of creating Swabhabokti because it does not bring any uniqueness in the poetic thought

and alamkara also cannot perform its role here in the Swabhabokti. Alamkara makes the object

beautiful by putting the elements which are not there in the object.

Shabda and the Artha make the body of poetry. It can be beautiful with the vakrokti. The

cleverness of words should not cover the beauty of the poem. Tadwidgana, means the group of

scholars who understand poetry will evaluate this highest art of creation of poetry in a poet.

                                                                              Essay 

                                  The prominent Rasa in Ramayana and Mahabharata:

there are other Rasas like Sringara, Vipralambha Sringara, Vira, Krodha, Adbhuta etc. But all

these are sub-ordinate sentiments (Anga Rasas). As Adikavi Valmiki himself said sorrow has

become sloka-poem. Shoka or sorrow is the permanent mood (Sthayibhava) of Karuna Rasa.

This Karuna Rasa is present in Ramayana throughout hence it is the primary (Angi) Rasa in the

Kavya.

In the entire Mahabharata the prominent Rasa is ‘Shante’ and all the other Rasa’s being Anga

Rasas (sub-ordinate) Though there is no reference to the term Shanta in the Anukromanika

 (theindex) – the table of contents, it should be understood through Dhvani. In the Anukramanica

there is a quote which says “Lord Vasudeva, the Eternal will be glorified.

“ Here Vasudeva is not the son of Vasudeva, but he is Sanatana – the Eternal. The poem is full

of praise of that Sanatana and he is the main character in Mahabharata. The cessation of desire

disgust, aversion take important aspect in Mahabharata and tranquility of mind is desired

emotion. The whole Kavya shows the importance of worldly pleasures, pains, possessions,

Valour, love etc. and praises the Eternal. Abandoning all these desires is Vairagya -which is the

static emotion Sthayibhava of Shanta Rasa. Hence in Mahabharata Shanta Rasa is the primary

sentiment (Angi Rasa) and all other sentiments are auxiliaries (Anga Rasa).

Conclusion

The minds of Sahridayas go to suggested meaning instantaneously rather than to explicit

meaning. To relish Rasa-sentiment the vibhavas- the settings like moong light, seasons, fragrance

etc. and the Anubhavas-the physical changes like facial expression, body language etc.,

Vyabhichari bhavas like instantaneous reactions like laughing, weeping etc. are not simply

declared. They are depicted to set the mind of the reader and spectator towards the

accomplishment of desired Rasa through Dhvani which is the soul of the poet.

Thus Anandavardhana authoritatively advocates that when the suggestive element is

prominent in the Kavya then it becomes a Dhvanikavya, an Uttama Kavya, and highest kind of

poetry. Modern Scholars like P.V.Kane writes that “The Dhvanyaloka is an epoch-making work

in the history of Alankara literature. It occupies the same position in poetics as Panini’s

Asthadhyayi and Sankaracharya’s commentary on Vedanta.”