topics: |  ancient | india | sanskrit | |

this volume contains many essays that have disappeared from discourse and
are difficult to find.   many of them are eminently readable, compared to
other more available work.

An analysis of poetics : V. Raghavan

here i excerpt generously from v. raghavan's eminently readable analysis of
the long tradition of the literary analysis of poetry.  his work is quite
hard to find nowadays.

rAghavan discusses rIti or literary style.  he analyzes it in terms of the
progression of the argument - starting with remarks by bANa and progressing
to the kashmiri scholar kuntaka, a period of about four centuries (though
raghavan does not cite any dates in his long essay).

much of the discussion  is just as applicable to poetic analysis today.
The pre-eminence of meaning (arthaguNa - rasadhvani or emotional
suggestion) - over sound or rhythm, seem quite significant even today.

also the general tendency to see a gradation in terms of simplicity and
directness vs ornamentation and force seems true of all art.
bhAmaha's dictum - that a minimum of vakratA (indirectness) is needed to
avoid grAmyatA (peasant speech) also seems quite universal.

Excerpts

ch15 : rIti (literary style) : v. raghavan, m.a., ph.d

	(senior assistant to the editorial board. catalogus catalogorum
	university of madras)

the history of the concept of rIti has three stages : first, when it was a
living geographical mode of literary criticism; second, when it lost the
geographical association and came to be stereotyped and standardised with
reference to subject; and third, its re-interpretation by kuntaka, the only
sanskrit AlaMkArika, who in his fine literary instinct and originality as
evidenced on many other lines also, related the rIti to the character of the
poet and displaced the old rItis by new ones.

like national characteristics, there are also provincial characteristics
in manners. these are studied by bharata in the concept of pravrtti
as part of the complete understanding of the world in its infinte variety,
of which nATya is an anukAra. the concept of pravrtti in manners is
rIti in speech, in literature.

rIti is literary manner.

bANa's description of geographical variations in rIti

we first hear of it in bANa in the introductory verses at the beginning of
his harsha carita, bANa remarks that certain parts of the country produce
literature marked by certain characteristics.

[bANa says in this verse that it is the westerners who write the bare idea
with the least flourish. the bare idea, arthamAtra, has its opposite in
pallava.  bald idea is the flaw called apuSTa and similarly, too much
pallava is a flaw at the other extreme. beautiful pallava, says
ratnesvara in his commentary on the sarasvatIkaNTha-AbharaNadd (S.K.A.)
ii. p.157, "is the essence of poetry. he quotes here two anonymous verses,
according to which it is not the westerners (as said by bANa) but the
northerners, udIcyas, as contrasted with the dAkSiNAtyas or vaidarbhas, that
give the bare idea.]

so also, baNa, speaking of the different parts of this country, remarks that

* the northerners write nothing but double entendre,
* the westerners, the bare idea ;
* the southerners roll in imaginative conceits while the
* gauDas (easterners) make a display of wordy tumult.

but immediately bANa thinks that the best writer combines all these four
qualities in the best manner.

the bare idea is stale but novelty of the idea makes it striking:
navo'rthaH_.

the natural description of things as they are, jAti, can be effective,
if the description is not bald and ordinary, grAmya. the udIcyas' shleSa
is welcome but it should be 'akliSTa', not forced. the akSaraDambara
of the gauDas has its own beauty but, all this has any beauty only if
rasa is transparent in the piece, sphuTo rasah.

it is very difficult to combine these virtues ; but when one achieves it,
he is a great writer indeed. in these two verses, bANa has spoken of four
different styles, each definite and distinct, with its own emphasis on one
particular feature, but has voted for casting away an over-emphasis on each
of these four characteristics and for moderately and appropriately
combining them into one good style which looks like the niSyanda of the
four.

later literary criticism: vaidarbhI and gauDI styles

the north and the west of the verse of baNa are lost - the main
distinguishable styles are the dAkSiNAtyas of bANa are the
vaidarbhIs and the gauDIs are the eastern.

We have it as a tradition in sanskrit literature that the vidarbha country is
the
home of grace and beauty. bharata speaks of the beauty, saukumArya,
of the southerners in his dAkSiNAtyA pravr.tti.

in course of time, circles of literary critics, kavya goSThis, discussed
poems and writings in terms of the two rItis, the vaidarbhI and the gauDI.
there was prevalent a dislike for the latter, since it abounded in excesses
of sound effects and figure effects.

bhAmaha's views : focus on the quality, not the origin alone

in this time appear bhAmaha's views on the two rItis, disapproving of the
method of criticism based on the two rItis which called the vaidarbha good
and the gauDIya, bad. it must be accepted that the vaidarbha had many
graceful features, was simple and sweet with restraint in adornment, while
the gauDIya which began as a style distinguished by ornament, overdid it and
deteriorated.

bhAmaha said: one need not condemn the gauDI, nor praise the vaidarbhI.  they
are two styles of writings, each characterised by certain distinguishing
features. provided the writings in either style have well developed thought
expressed in fine turns, not vulgar or insipid, and uninvolved, both are
acceptable. without these general features of good poetry, it will not be
acceptable even if it is vaidarbhI.  if these good features are present, it
is acceptable, no matter if it is gauDI.

that is, bhAmaha wants to end indiscreet literary criticism led as if by
the nose by these two names, vaidarbha and gauDIya. both styles have
features which can be overdone ; consequently both have their vicious
counterparts.  thus the sweetness, simplicity and the unadornedness of the
vaidarbhI can easily deteriorate into cloying liquids and nasals, and bare
idea of insipid ordinariness.

qualities of good poetry

bhamaha's is but a sane view: the vaidarbha need not adorn itself very
much; but a minimum of vakratA is needed to avoid grAmyatA.

when one has to praise a thing, it is neither enough nor beautiful to simply
say without adopting telling turns of expressions, 'very much' etc.

thus, accepting the current habit of distinguishing writing into two
styles, bhamaha would argue that both are acceptable if they do not
overdo their distinguishing features and possess the more general and
necessary virtues of all good composition. he points out the possibility
of a good handling of the gauDI and similarly the possibility of a bad
vaidarbhI.

he would not stress these two catchwords very much but
would emphasise more the other features of greater importance which
all good composition should have, viz.:

 	- alaMkAravatvam
	- agrAmyatvam
	- arthyatvam
	- nyAyatvam
	- anAkulatvam

is the vaidharbhi / gauDI distinction feasible?

from this, we can now pass to consider the final position of bhAmaha.

as one who emphasises the above given features of all good poetry, bhAmaha
does not propose to accept unthinkingly the differentiation of writing into
vaidarbha and gauDa at all.

his is a double protest. first, it is against the partiality for the
vaidarbhI and the aversion for the gauDI. he says : a lay and gregarious
world repeats what one has said, praises the vaidarbhI and condemns the
gauDI, even when the gauDI is good and has good idea, sadartham api. thus
pleading for the possibility of a good gauDI with the auxiliary argument of
the possibility of a bad vaidarbhI, bhAmaha says that, personally, he would
not attach much importance to the two names vaidarbhI and gauDI.

as one who cares for the greater virtues of good poetry in general, he
says that he accepts such composition as possessing those good qualit1es.
he says that he cannot distinguish two styles and that such a thing is
non-existent. but his opponents point out that, as for instance, the
kAvya (lost) called the asmakavamsha is vaidarbhI.  his reply is, "all
right, call it whatever you please ; one gives names as he pleases and
that does not matter much. there is no special kind of poetry called
vaidarbhI. all poetic writing is accepted because it is adorned by
vakrokti or svabhAvokti."

but this current of criticism against the gauDI flowed for ever, despite
bhAmaha's efforts to stop it. the good gauq.i envisaged by bhamaha
was however not demonstrated, in all probability, by the representatives
of the gau<;li and so the gauDI came to mean a bad style, with excess of
shabda and artha alaMkara, poor in idea, hyperbolic and involved in
expression. it is this gauDl that is the anti-hero in the first pariccheda
of the kAvyAdarsha of daNDin.

[later the terms gauDI became non-regional; the emphasis shifted to the guNas
inherent in these differing styles, rather than their geographic origins]

the qualities characterizing different styles (mArgas)

while speaking of the two mArgas, bhamaha mentions komalatva, shruti
peshalatva, and prasannatva regarding the vaidarbhI; and while commending
the good gauDI says that it must be anAkula, which means that there must
not be very long compounds.

besides this implied and traceable connection between the guNas and
the two mArgas, there is no definite mention, in bhAmaha, of guNas as
the constituting elements of a marga.

in poetic expression there is always a finally analysable scheme of
two definite styles, the simple and the grandiloquent, the plain and the
elevated, the unadorned and the figurative. in the former, natural
description of emotion, men and things is given with minimum artificial
decoration.  svabhAvokti and rasokti, to borrow bhoja's
classification, predominate in it.  colour, ornament, -- vakrokti
dominates the latter.  these two correspond to daNDin's two styles; only
the gauDI is vakrokti run riot.

kuntaka's sukumara mArga belongs to the former class
which emphasises vakrokti less. kuntaka's vicitra mArga marks an
emphasis on the vaicitrya that vakrokti imparts.

aristotle also gives only two styles, the good and the bad, the good being so
by any sort of virtue, i.e., good not only because of virtues of simplicity,
elegance. etc., but by virtues of vigour, etc., also. his bad style is the
frigid style, resembling exactly daNDin's gauDI, a style which
overshoots.  the plain and elegant style of demetrius corresponds to the
vaidarbhI of daNDin and the sukumara of kuntaka. the elevated and the
forcible of demetrius resembles the vicitra mArga of kuntaka and the good
gauDI envisaged by bhAmaha. 95

is riti the same as the english word "style"?

s.k. de in his "sanskrit poetics" p.115/116, says that

	it should be observed that the term rIti is hardly equivalent to the
	english word style, by which it is often rendered, but in which there
	is always a distinct subjective valuation. ... rIti is not, like the
	style, the expression of poetic individuality as is generally
	understood by western criticism, but it is merely the outward
	presentation of its beauty called forth by a harmonious combination
	of more or less fixed 'literary excellences'.

these literary excellences, suggests de, constitute four or six qualities
or guNas.

[however, raghavan's analysis suggests that ]

	rItis are not so few as two or six but really as infinite as poets
	and that at least one or two AlaMkArikas and poets have related rIti
	to the poet. 95

later critics ; vAmana : classifies the guNas into those of
		- shabda (sound)  : bandha
		- artha  (meaning) : ojas, prauDhi, mAdhurya (uktivaicitrya)
			shleSa (ghaTanA), kAnti (brilliance of rasa)

vAmana emphasizes the arthaguNas which lift up rIti to a higher position,
reaching up to rasa.  pAka or the maturity of poetry is the sphutatva or
sAkalya of these guNas.

to the two rItis, vaidharbhI and gauDI, vAmana adds pAñcAlI, another
intriguing geographic name.

	the gauDI in vAmana is not the bad style in daNDin. it is a good
	style in which all the guNas of the vaidarbhI are present; only it
	sheds some sweetness and delicateness and attains vigour and
	forcefulness. the mAdhurya and saukumarya of the vaidarbhi are
	replaced by samAsabhAhulya (abundance of compounds) and
	ulbaNapadas, with a greater degree of ojas and kAnti. the pañcali is
	the vaidarbhi devoid of ojas and kAnti. 98


arthaguNa prasAda : use of words exactly sufficient for
	conveying the idea. [108]

aprayojaka : mere verbiage affected for attaining a grandiose style and
	adopted to cover one's poverty of idea and imagination.

daNDin condemns not only ulbaNa anuprAsa (shabdAlaMkAra) and yamaka
(rhyme/alliteration) which is duSkara and 'naikAnta madura' (hard to follow),
but also arthAlaMkAra ADambara (excessive play on meaning).  he prefers
delicateness, fineness and natural grace a which give poetry a power which no
rhetorical ornament can ever impart to it.

compare schopenhauer : "an author should guard against using all
unnecessary rhetorical adornment, all useless amplification, and in general,
just as in architecture, he should guard against an excess of decoration,
all superfluity of expression -- in other words, he should aim at
chastity of style. everything redundant has a harmful effect. the law
of simplicity and naivete applies to all fine art, for it is compatible with
what is most sublime."

comparisons with western thought

it shall be considered now whether the linking of riti to the poet
and his character and the idea of the infinity of riti is or is not present
in sanskrit alaMkAra literature.

aristotle described only one good style and its qualities and contrasted it
with a bad style called the frigid which overdid ornamentation. he refuted
also others who spoke of different styles such as the agreeable. he argued
that there was no end when one began attributing to styles all sorts of
ethical qualities like restraint, etc.

an emphasis of the relation of style to the author makes it impossible to
speak of style in general or define its features. only a few concrete
qualities related to the actual shabdas, the sanghaTana, padas and
varNas, and to the theme can be considered while defining or classifying
style.  thus, previous to aristotle some had spoken of the agreeable style.

after aristotle, some were speaking of three styles, grave, medium and
attenuate, to suit the threefold purpose of oratory, moving, pleasing and
pleading. just before demetrius wrote, some held styles to be two, the plain
and the elevated. demetrius added two more, the elegant and the
forcible.  plainness stood against elevation.  a style is specially decorated
for effect or is plain.  109

from another point of view, styles can be classified into two, the elegant
(or graceful) and the forcible. it is not one principle of classification
that gives us these four styles. the plain may be elegant or
forcible ; the elevation given to a style may be elegant or forcible. but
naturally, plainness and elegance go together and so also elevation and
force. the plain and the elegant of demetrius are represented by vaidarbhI in
sanskrit.  the elevated and the forcible correspond to the good gauDI
found envisaged in bhAmaha, the frigid and the affected styles in demetrius
being the bad gauDI in daNDin.

the two correspond to sukumAra and the
vicitra mArgas in kuntaka. saukumarya and ojas -- plainness and elegance,
elevation and force -- these finally give us two rItis. bhaTTa nr.simha, a
commentator on bhoja's sarasvatIkaBThabharaNa (madras ms.) says that of the
guNas of daNDin, two are important, saukumarya and ojas, as being
asAdhAraNa of the two mArgas.

this final analysis of style
into two is neither impossible nor absurd.  treating of the formal element in
literature in ch. iv. of his work 'some principles of literary criticism',
winchester has the following:

	but while individuality is not to be classified, it may be said that
	there are, in general, two opposite tendencies in personal expression
	: on the one hand to clearness and precision ; on the other to
	largeness and profusion. the difference between the two may be seen
	by comparing such poetry as that of mathew arnold with that of
	tennyson or such prose as that of newman with that of jeremy
	taylor. minds of one class insist on sharply divided ideas, on
	clearness of image, on temperance, and precision of epithet. their
	style we characterise as chaste or classic. the other class have a
	great volume o£ thought, but less well-defined; more fervour and less
	temperance of feeling, more abundant and vivid imagery, more wealth
	of colour, but less sharpness of definition. their thoughts seem to
	move through a haze of emotion and often through a lush growth of
	imagery. they tend to be ornate and profuse in manner, eager in
	temper; they often produce larger and deeper effects, but they lack
	restraint and suavity. it is a contrast not peculiar to literature,
	but running through all forms of art.

	 we are not called upon to pronounce either manner absolutely better
	 than the other. "

the last sentence here echoes bhAmaha's attitudes towards the distinction of
style into vaidarbhI and gauDI and the claim of superiority for the
former. 110

about the origins of the volume

In pursuance of a resolution passed by the subscribers to the Kuppuswami
Sastri Memorial, this Volume has been prepared with the help and co-operation
of scholars in India, Europe and America. The fact that several of the
Studies are by the Professor's own pupils is a measure of his influence as a
teacher ; while the number and importance of the contributions from sister
Universities in India and abroad signify the respect in which he is held by
those most competent to judge.

The Presidency College,				C. K. RAJA,
Madras.						P. P. S. SASTRI,
  							Organisers.

---

full title:
	Mahamahopadhyaya Kuppuswami Sastri [S. Kuppusvāmin Sāstrin]
	Commemoration Volume: This Vol. of Studies in Indology is Presented
	by His Pupils and Friends ; on His Retirement from Government Service
	as Prof. of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology, Presidency College,
	and Curator, Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras,
	1914-1935

Contents

1. Bhagavatam
	 MM. Ganganatha Jha 1
2. Saktibhadra's Place in the History of Sanskrit Literature
	 Prof. M. Winternitz 3
3. Parasu-Rama : The main mttlines of his legend
	 Dr. Jarl Charpentier 9
4. Dakshinavartanatha and his Commentary on the Meghaduta
	 K. Chattopadhyaya 17
5. The Doctrine of Avatara in Bengal Vaisnavism
	 Dr. S. K. De 25
6. The Meter of the Saddharmapundarika
	 Prof. Franklin Edgerton 39
7. Date of Subhuticandra's Commentary on the Amarakosa
	 P. K. Gode 47
8. A Forgotten Event of Shah Jehan's Reign - Kavindracandrodaya
	 Dr. Har Dutt Sharma 53
9. Archaeology in Baroda
	 Dr. Hirananda Sastri 61
10. Some Indian Words in the Oxford English Dictionary
	 Prof. Amaranatha Jha 65
11. Babylon and India
	 Prof. A. B. Keith 67
12. Sankara and the World
	 Prof. Kokileswara Sastri 73
13. A Note on Sakapuni
	 Dr. C. Kunhan Raja 81
14. J ainism. and Advaita Vedanta
	 Prof. K. A. Nila.kanta Sa.stri 85
15. Riti
	 V. Raghavan 89
16. Public opinion in Ancient India-A Bird's-eye View
	 V. R. Ramachandra. Dikshitar 119
17. The Dynamism of the Indian Concept of Rasa
	 Dewan Bahadur K. S. Ramaswami Sastri 123
18. Rasa Aspect of the Malatimadhava
	 V. A. Ramaswami Sastri 129
19. Accentual Variation in Relation to Semantic Variation
	 C. R. Sankaran 133
20. Jayadeva
	 P. Seshadri 141
21. Light on the Vedangajyotisa
	 Dr. R. Shama Sastri 143
22. A Passage on Painting-Process from Nannechoda's Kumarasambava
	 C. Sivaramamurti 151
23. A Contribution to the Problem of the Relation between Karma,
    Jnana and Moksa
	 Dr. Otto Strauss 159
24. The Chronology of the Madhva Pontiffs
	 Prof. P. P. S. Sastri 167
25. Navaratnamala
	 S. T. G. Varadachari 171

Dates in Prof. Kuppuswami Sastri's Career 173
Chronological List of the Writings of Prof. Kuppuswami Sastri 174