About the Book Though Bharata had discussed about some aspects of Kavyasastra while. describing Vacikabhinaya, Bhamaha is the first and foremost among the rhetoricians who have attempted to analyze the various aspects of Kavya as a whole. In its strict sense, the Alankara School of Indian literary thoughts evolved with the Kavyalankara of Bhamaha. Bhamaha tried to establish the logical structure of poetic figures. He made it clear by the statement that poetry would not be charming without Alankaras even if it appeared beautiful. Rhetoricians like Udbhata, Rudrata, Ruyyaka and soon have accepted this as a credible fact.
A majority of Karikas in Kavyalamkara are meant for the discussion of Alankara. About thirty eight Alankaras have been discussed in the second and third paricchedas of Kavyalankara. Other aspects of poetry like the definition, purpose, sources and varieties of poetry also have been analysed. Kavi, Pratibha, Poetic blemishes, Pratyaksa and Anumana the real means of knowledge and essentiality of thorough knowledge in Vyakarana are also discussed. Being a native of Kashmir which was once considered the land of Indian poetics, Bhamaha has paved a way of a wider world of Oriental literary criticism.
Foreword Though Bharata had discussed about some aspects of Kavyasastra while describing Vacikabhinaya, Bhamaha is the first and foremost among the rhetoricians who have attempted to analyse the various aspects of Kavya as a whole. In its strict sense, the Alankara School of Indian literary thoughts evolved with the Kavyalankara of Bhamaha. Bhamaha tried to establish the logical structure of poetic figures. He made it clear by the statement " that poetry would not be charming without Alankaras even if it appeared beautiful. Rhetoricians like Udbhata, Rudrata, Ruyyaka and soon have accepted this as a credible fact.
A majority of Karikas in Kavyalankara are meant for the discussion of Alankara. About thirty eight Alankaras have been discussed in the second and third paricchedas of Kavyalankara. Other aspects of poetry like the definition, purpose, sources and varieties of poetry also have been analysed. Kavi, Pratibha, Poetic blemishes, Pratyakca and Anumana the real means of knowledge and essentiality of thorough knowledge in Vyakarana are also discussed. Being a native of Kashmir which was once considered the land of Indian poetics, Bhamaha has paved a way of a wider world of Oriental literary criticism, I have immense pleasure to publish the Doctoral thesis entitled 'Bhamaha's Kavyalarikara A Critical Study and Edition' by Dr. C.R. Subhadra as the 29th book under the Calicut University Sanskrit Series.
Preface As is well-known, India is a land endowed with a rich heritage of poetry. Such an abundance of literacy tradition was sure to pave way for the emergence of serious literary studies. Against such a vast background of poetics, the pioneer work, viz. Bhamaha's Kavyalankara stands foremost in its originality pertaining to almost all aspects of poetry. If we exclude Bharata, the dramaturgist who has made an exhaustive study on almost all aspects of Sanskrit drama in his Natyasastra, Bhamaha was the first known exponent of literary criticism in Sanskrit. Modern researchers in Sanskrit poetics have recognised the significance of Bhamaha's work and have critically assessed several aspects of his literary theory. Scholars like K.P. Trivedi, P.V. Kane and S.K. De have examined literary theory as set forth in the first chapter of his work. Others like V. Raghavan, K. Krishnamoorthy and A.K. Warder carefully brought out Bhamaha's concepts of Dosa and Alankara. V.M. Kulkarni in two of his articles introduced some other topics treated in the fifth and sixth paricchedas of Kavyalankara. But from these alone, howmuch laudable these earlier attempts are, one cannot form an idea of Bhamaha's literary theory in its fulness.
Bhamaha's views on various aspects of poetry are seen lying scattered in the work. A detailed study of each and every verse of Bhamaha is thus a desideratum. In the present work, an attempt has been made to investigate the literary theories of Bhamaha as well as their sources and also to analyze their impact on later Sanskrit poetics.
Introduction Bhamaha's Kavyalankara is one of the most remarkable works in Sanskrit Alankarasastra because of its originality and thoroughness of analysis. With this significant contribution of Bhamaha, Sanskrit literary theory especially concerning Sravyakavyas awakened from its infantile slumber. It is true that almost all the features of Drsyakavya are exhaustively dealt with by Bharata in his Natyasastra. By structure and function, Sravyakavya makes its impact felt on the reader in a rather slow and steady manner and is vastly different from Drsyakavya whose impact on a spectator is instantaneous. Therefore Bhamaha's attempt to treat poetry separately in all its subtle aspects gave Sanskrit literary criticism a peculiar gravity and independent existence.
Bhamaha is, thus the first exponent of Alankarasastra in its strict sense of literary theory. The word "Alankara" with all its varied aspects is first used by Bhamaha to denote poetic beauty and its devices. Alankara is to him, the figruative expression of both sound and sense (sabda and artha). It is only by Alankara that the meaning is enhanced. Bhamaha has propounded a novel concept of Alankara with figurativeness (Vakrokti) as its hallmark. In his work, several other concepts concerning poetic beauty which were later propounded by other poeticians are seen in their germinal form. Actually it is on these foundations that many of the later poeticians like Udbhata and Kuntaka built up their theories. A critical study of Bhamaha's literary theory in all its ramifications is thus a desideratum.
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