The first edition of this work was published in two separate volumes in 1923, 1925. Almost simultaneously in 1923 appeared the second edition of the Sahitya darpapa by Maha mahopādyāya Dr P. V. Kane, to which was prefixed an introduction of 177 pages dealing with the history of Alamkära literature, subsequently elaborated in the third edition (1951) into 423 pages. Referring to these facts Dr Kane writes: "Both of us were thus practically pioneers in this field. Our books led many scholars to study the numerous works on Alamkara, to point out defects and mistakes, to produce papers dealing with several aspects of the Alańkāraśāstra and to publish several important texts." This will make clear the necessity of revising the present work, which was written and published independently, but which, not yet superseded, had been out of print for more than thirty years.
The scope of the present work was sufficiently explained in the preface to the first edition. An attempt has been made to approach the subject from the historical point of view, instead of presenting a bare account of the works and authors or a mere epitome of the different topics of Alamkära. Presuming a general knowledge and taking the representative writers (and, as far as necessary, the neglected commentators and so- called minor writers), the development of Sanskrit Poetics has been traced through its fairly long and varied course of history, which covers an extensive literature of more than a thousand years. The first volume of the work, therefore, deals with the preliminary but important question of a working Chronology and original Sources, on the basis of which the second volume proceeds to set forth the history through divergent Systems and Theories. It will be seen that, barring some rearrangement and division into chapters, the general form of the first edition has not been changed; but for convenience the two volumes are now published in one, divided into parts.
In investigating the growth of Sanskrit Poetics it was, of course, not possible to ignore its content; but it has been thought more useful to lay stress on the essentials of doctrines and omit minor details, the object of this work being more historical than expository. It was not possible, for instance, to give a detailed technical analysis of individual rhetorical "figures", with which the Alamkara-ästra is traditionally and popularly associated; but the general doctrine of poetic figures has been dealt with, in so far as they are not mere tickets of nomenclature but positive agents in the production of artistic beauty. The study of analytical Rhetoric, apart from its value as a formal discipline, may be regarded as pedantic and futile; but Sanskrit Alamkära-śātra, in spite of its name, possesses a speculative interest by involving, besides mere Rhetoric, a great deal of what is known to-day as Criticism or Aesthetic. It was almost impossible for the Alamkärikas, concerned that they were with form and technique, not to be interested in the general phenomenon of literature or theorise on general principles.
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