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treats the Guņas as "those elements of poetry that serve to embellishment it". And these Guņas, unlike the figures of speech or Alamāras in the narrower sense, are the inseparable attributes of poetry because they constitute the Riti described as the soul of poetry. Thus Vāmana considers Riti to be the soul of poetry and Guņa to be the constituent of Riti, This Riti is Višistā Padaracanā i.e. a special type of word-arrangement. Vāmana's Significant Distinction
While Vāmana attempts to analyse the different elements of poetry, he not only defines them but also distinguishes them. Thus, for instance, while dealing with the concept of Guna in the first chapter of the third section of his work, the Kāvyālamkārasūtravștti, which consists of terse aphorisms as
as a gloss by the same author, Vāmana begins by saying in the first Sūtra that the Guņas are those attributes or properties, Dharmāḥ, which impart beauty or charm to a poem, but states in the next Sūtra (Sū. 2) that the Alamkāras or figures of speech (like the simile, alliteration etc.) are the causes of heightening the beauty or charm thus produced. Thus, in Vāmana's theory of poetry, the Guņas are described as inseparable attributes of poetry, while the Alamkāras, since they are not absolutely indispensable in the production of poetic beauty or charm, only serve to enhance the poetic charm when it is produced, enjoy a subordinate status as a poetic element. This significant distinction between the Gunas and Alamkaras has been clearly brought out by Vāmana by quoting two verses Yuvateriva rūpam etc. and Yadi bhavati vucaścyutam etc. wherein the Guņas are explained on the analogy of human virtues which reside inseparably in the human soul and the Alaskāras on the analogy of ornaments on a human body. Thus the Guņas are the direct attributes that cause poetic beauty but the Alamkāras embellish poetry indirectly through the sound and sense and that too not invariably. Nevertheless, Vāmana's theory regards both the Guña and the Alamkāra as the properties of word and meaning, albeit
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