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Definition and Scope of Poetry again calling only the 'principally suggested sense alone - i.e. 'dhvani' alone', as soul of poetry. The clear picture that emerges from this discussion is that the metaphorical usages of 'body. 'souľ etc. are not to be drawn to their last limits and that they are meant, at the best, as proposed explanations of the abstract art of poetry. In short, the concept that poetry is word and sense taken together with any number of devices to cause poetic beauty which are natural with the combination of word and sense, seems to have taken root in literary circle, and Anandavardhana has no objection to that. As a matter of fact he is prepared to accept any turn of expression, any deviation, provided it is beautiful, as poetry, hough of course in his estimation the highest art lies in concealing art, i.e. in the implicit sense projected as the highest source of beauty in a given piece of poetry It is therefore that the use of poetic excellences and figures of speech has to be conditioned by the fact that they help in evoking rasa, i.e. aesthetic pleasure or even a sentiment, as the principal feature of poetry. This insistance on his part is in keeping with the view held by Bharata also, who has recommended every device with reference to evocation of rasa. Perhaps Anandavardhana is clearer in his understanding as compared to some of his predecessors and as observed earlier, Rudrata's stand was a bridge between Bharata and Anandavardhana. Anandavardhana holds that this evocation of sentiment takes place in poetry through the medium of the word-power called vyañjanā and is termed rasa-dhvani • when it is singled out as the principal source of poetic charm. He holds that in poetry, through this word-power called vyañjanā is arrived at a three-fold suggested meaning, which could be of the form of vastu-or matter of fact, or idea, alamkāra or a figure of speech, or rasādi, i.e. emotive stuff, the sentiment, emotion or feeling, and if any of it proves to be the principal source of poetic beauty, it is termed as 'dhvani' of vastu, alamkāra, or rasādi, as the case may be. The type of poetry having this implicit sense arrived at through the word-power of suggestion or vyañjanā, is also termed as 'dhvani kävya' provided this pratīyamāna or implicit sense proves to be the principal source of charm. We will discuss this in a greater detail later. We will also go to observe that in his wider scheme of poetry Anandavardhana finds suitable space for all the concepts of literary criticism such as alamkāra, guna, rīti, vrtti, dosa, etc., as advanced by earlier ālamkārikas and thus makes his theory of "vyañjanā - dhvani-rasa" more acceptable, logical and catholic. Anandavardhana has advanced the theory of three powers of the poetic word and there too he has attached more importance to the power of suggestion or vyañjanā.
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