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5
This topic is connected with the nature and cause of Kāvya which is dealt with in a separate sutra (1.3). But since the word Kavya in 1.2 needs explanation, it is explained in terms of Tauta's quotation. This quotation is connected with Tauta's theory of the Imagination - which theory was reverentially accepted by Abhinavagupta in his Locana and which became canonical in later works. This poetic imagination "is that gift of mind by whose aid one can visualise myriad new things anew. It is by virtue of this gift alone that one deserves the title of a poet. His poetry abounds in imaginative description." Tauta's views on the office of the poet are also quoted by Hemachandra on p. 432 (Chapter-VIII, quote-46). Tauta's aesthetic philosophy goes to the very heart of the poetic art. Vide Prof. S. P. Bhattacharya's, observations in "Studies in Indian Poetics" ("Three Lost Masterpieces of Alamkāraśāstra'') : "Some of his (Bhatta Tota's) dicta as thoes concerning the relative place of Pratibhā (originality). ... and information (Vyutpatti) in affording the clue to poetic inspiration; .... concerning the mechanical or formative function (Vibhāvavyāpāra) coming to the aid of creative impulse or poetic intuition (Darśana) through description (Varṇana) are well known and form instructive and refreshing reading."
6 Hemachandra's gloss here in unmistakably an echo of
Mammața's gloss on K.P.I. 2 of. Bhämaha (1. 2) and Rudrata (1. 4-12). Dhananjaya redicules the idea that "from dramas, which distil joy, the gain is knowledge only, as in the case of history and the like; for it is a case of turning your face away from what is delightful !" (D.R.I. 6). Also read the Avaloka on this verse: FaithTACENT Targt fre4791 424
7
This didactic aim of poetry is, in fact, extra-literary. But since Moralists put forward the stock argument -
483
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