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Studies in Indian Philosophy
the gay, arabhat, the spirited and sattvatt, the heroic, besides bharati or mode of the spoken word, because the spoken word in dramatic prose is again distinct from lyrical poetry.
While some theorists equate Kiti and Vṛtti in poetry as synonyms stray writers like Udbhata would restrict the concept of Vṛtti to types of alliteration possible in poetry. In such a case, we could say that they correspond to the rhythmic movements natural to our beauty queen of art.
Such are the fundamental key-terms in Indian aesthetics Alankara, Guna, bhava, rasa, riti and vṛtti -which are all interinvolved since each explains an aspect of beauty in the poetic art, and our idea of overall beauty would remain but partial and incomplete if we ignore any of these aspects. That is why almost all attempts at a definition of literature have become instances of so may failures in India as well as in the West. The content of poetry is as wide as Nature and human nature or life at all levels. The form of poetry cannot be neatly brought under any one of the categories already noticed. If we emphasize the body, we might ignore the soul or vice versa. The truth is that literature is an inseparable composite of both as the very term sahitya connotes. Even if we agree that the body is made of alankara and guna, the choice of the soul between riti and rasa goes difficult, because both are essential, each in its own way. All that we can unquestionably accept is that poetry is language suffused with beautiful meaning; but it is too general to be of much use. Indeed it is the final way Jagannatha found, out of this difficulty. His seemingly simplistic definition is-"ramaṇīyārthapratipadakaḥ śabdaḥ kāvyam". But he had to write pages and pages of explanation to make it precise and accurate and all-inclusive. On the other hand, much earlier than Jagannatha, the doyen of our aestheticians, viz. Anandavardhana, and after him, his admirer Kuntaka, had found two sustainable methods of giving an all-inclusive definition by creating a new aesthetic category which could cover all the aspects of beauty. Anandavardhana's find was dhvani while that of Kuntaka was Vakrokti. Both these have greater claims on our attention than all the rest.
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