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INTRODUCTION.
The present edition of this work comprises (1) Alankārasutra, (2) a Vritti (commentary on the Sutra) and (3) a commentary on the Vritti. The Vritti published in the Kavyamala Series has the following introductory line, "ङ्कारसूत्राणां वृत्त्या तात्पर्यमुच्यते". From this it has to be inferred that both the Sutra and the Vritti were written by one and the same author. And from the closing line therein, “qofमिदम् अलङ्कारसर्वस्वम्" both the Sūtra and Vritti have come to be known as Alankarasarvasva. The colophon in the same edition, “कृतिस्तत्रभवद्राजानकरुय्यकस्य” ascribes the authorship to Ruyyaka.
But in our ancient palm-leaf manuscripts of the work, the above introductory line runs " गुर्वलङ्कारसूत्राणां वृत्त्या तात्पर्यमु च्यते”, where the reading गुरु instead of निज gives rise to the surmise that the author of the Sutra might be a preceptor of And the couplet, at the end of our
the author of the Vritti. manuscripts,
" इति * मखुको वितेने काश्मीरक्षितिपसान्धिविग्रहिकः । सुकविमुखालङ्कारं तदिदमलङ्कारसर्वस्वम् ॥"
makes it clear that the author of Alankarasarvasva was Mankhuka. The commentator Samudrabandha calls the Vritti, the subject of his commentary, as Alankarasarvasva and its author, as Mankhuka, and adopts the reading in “dosaरसूत्राणाम्".
Thus it is evident that a belief in the authorship of Alankarasar vasva had long ago been current in two ways. This belief could not have arisen unless both Ruyyaka and Mankhuka had some connection with the work. Hence it may be argued that one of them should have written the Sutra, and the other, the Vritti. Of these, the author of the Sutra, being the preceptor of the author of the Vritti as shown by the reading गुर्वलङ्कारसूत्राणाम् should be Ruyyaka himself, and the author of the Vritti should be Mankhuka. For, Mankhuka, in his Srikanthacharita refers to Ruyyaka as his preceptor thus:
"तं श्रीरुय्यकमालोक्य स प्रियं गुरुमग्रहीत् । सौहार्दप्रश्रयरसस्त्रोतस्सम्भेदमञ्जनम् ॥” (25-30)
Here, the proper name should be, which probably has become corrupted as मङ्खुक, just as the name अप्पय is pronounced as अप्पय्य with double य.
