Alaṃkāra, Chandas and Poetics
This section joins figure-of-speech identification with metre and with Sanskrit literary theory. Questions usually give a line and ask for the alaṃkāra with justification, or give a scanned line and ask for the vṛtta.
Alaṃkāra essentials
- Upamā - comparison with a vācaka (iva, yathā); rūpaka - identification without a vācaka.
- Utprekṣā - imaginative supposition (iva implying an unreal fancy); saṃdeha - doubt; bhrāntimān - error.
- Atiśayokti - hyperbole; arthāntaranyāsa - a general maxim clinching the particular; virodhābhāsa - apparent contradiction; samasokti - condensed identification.
- Śabdālaṃkāra: anuprāsa (alliteration), yamaka (repetition of syllable groups), śleṣa (double sense).
Chandas method
Write each syllable laghu (⏑) or guru (–), remembering that a short vowel before a conjunct and any long vowel or anusvāra is guru. Group into gaṇas: ya = ⏑––, ma = –––, ta = –⏑, ja = ⏑–⏑, bha = –⏑⏑, na = ⏑⏑⏑, ra = –⏑–, sa = ⏑⏑–, and single l/g.
Worked example
kaścit kāntāvirahaguruṇā svādhikārāt pramattaḥ scans as ma-bha-na-ta-ta-ga-ga = 3+3+3+3+3+1+1 = 17 syllables: mandākrāntā. For figures, compare mukham iva kamalam (upamā, because iva compares two things) with mukham eva kamalam (rūpaka, because identity is asserted).
Poetics names to keep straight
Dhvani - Ānandavardhana's Dhvanyāloka, commented by Abhinavagupta (Locana); vakrokti - Kuntaka; aucitya - Kṣemendra; rīti - Vāmana; rasa - Bharata; Kāvyaprakāśa - Mammaṭa; Sāhityadarpaṇa - Viśvanātha.
Traps that cost marks
- Naming the alaṃkāra without quoting the vācaka.
- Counting a syllable with a following conjunct as laghu.
- Mixing up the author of Kāvyaprakāśa and Sāhityadarpaṇa.