The Science of Sanskrit Grammar and the Science of Sanskrit Poetics have played two distinct and significant roles in the development of Sanskrit language and Sanskrit literature. Sanskrit Grammar is characterized by a good number of different schools. Among those the most prominent is the school of Panini. Three earliest authorities of the said school or system of grammar viz., Katyayana and Patanjali are given the status of seers.
The scope of Sanskrit Grammar is not confined to the problem of words, meanings and sentences. It has a much wider field than that. Eminent grammarians of the Paninian School like Patanjali and Bhartrhari contri-buted many important philosophical views on different aspects of grammar, which have produced deep impact in the minds of prominent thinkers associated with many other branches of literature. Great authorities on Sanskrit Poetics have expressed clearly about their indebtedness to Sanskrit Grammar.
The present work shows as to how closely the said two lores of learning viz., Sanskrit Grammar and Sanskrit Poetics are related. It explains as to how far the Sanskrit Poeticians or Aesthetes, right from Bharata to Panditaraja Jagannatha, are influenced by Sanskrit Grammar in general and the Paninian system of grammar in particular.
Shrutidhara Chakravarty did her B.A. (honours in Sanskrit) in 1979 from Cotton College, Guwahati, securing high first class. She did M.A. in the year 1983 from the Department of Sanskrit, Gauhati University, Guwahati, and stood first class first. She did her Ph. D. from the same University in the year 1992.
In 1985 she joined as Lecturer in the Department of Sanskrit, Rangia College, Rangia. In 1988 she joined the Department of Sanskrit, Gauhati University, as a Lecturer. Since 1996 she is serving the said Department at the capacity of a Reader.
Apart from teaching in the M.A. and M. Phil. level and supervising Ph.D. programmes, she has authored several research papers, which have been published in various national and international journals. She has attaneded the International Confe-rence on Sanskrit and related Studies, held at Krakow, Poland in the year 1993 and the 13th World Sanskrit Conference at Edinburgh, U.K. in 2006.
She did a certificate course on German language from the Institute of German Language, Guwahati in 1994. She attended the 28th Study Session on Human Rights at Strasbourg, France, in 1997. She simultaneously completed at Strasbourg, France, an intensive training course for University teaching and research in Human Rights, in 1997. In the same year she completed an Internship Programme of the Centre for Human Rights at the United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland, with scholarship from the European Union.
The Science of Sanskrit Grammar and the Science of Sanskrit poetics have played two distinct and significant roles in the development of the Sanskrit language and Sanskrit literature. The history of Sanskrit Grammar practically starts from the Astadhyayi of Panini which imparts a scientific trend to the Sanskrit language. On the other hand, the Science of Sanskrit poetics begins from the Neityasastra of Bharata.
The scope of Sanskrit Grammar is not confined to the problems of words, meanings and sentences. It has a much wider field than that. The eminent Sanskrit Grammarians like Patanjali and Bhartrhari contributed many important philosophical views on different aspects of Grammar, which have produced a deep impact even in the minds of prominent thinkers associated with many other branches of literature also. One glaring example of this is the concept of Dhvani presented by Patarijali which has been readily accepted by the noted aesthetist Anandavardhana as the very basis of the Dhvani theory in Poetics.
During my career as a student in the M.A. classes in Sanskrit and also as a Post-graduate teacher of Sanskrit Grammar and poetics I have found many strinking cases of the impact created by Sanskrit Grammarians on the works of the authorities on Sanskrit poetics beginning from the Nfityasastra of Bharata down on the Rasagangadhara of Panclitaraja Jagannatha.
This was the impetus, which led me to cherish a strong desire to work out a comprehensive work on Paninian influence on Sanskrit Poetics', and that is how the present work may be said to be an outcome of my keen interest in the subject.
'This book consists of nine chapters. A summary of the different chapters is presented below in a systematic manner :
Chapter-I : Introduction : This chapter deals with (i) the scope and varieties of Sanskrit Grammar and Sanskrit poetics, (ii) mutual relationship between Sanskrit Grammar and Sanskrit poetics, (iii) works already done by noted earlier scholars with regard to the theme of the present work and (iv) the scope and manner of sorting out the cases of the impact of Sanskrit Grammar on Sanskrit poetics.
Chapter-II : In Praise of Word, Grammar and Grammarian: This chapter contains references to and illustrations of the literary critic's words of praise for the human speech, the science of Grammar and the Grammarian. The said words of praise bear a testimony to the literary critic's intellectual indebtedness to the Grammarian.
Chapter-III : Impact of Grammar in the Treatment of Words and Sentences : This chapter shows that like the Grammarian, the literary critic is also concerned with verbal expressions, and like the former the latter also analyses the nature and varieties of various components of the speech like the sentence and the word. The latter has the same approach to the theme as that of the former and the terminology used by the latter also happens to be borrowed from the former.
Chapter-IV : Impact of Grammar on the Treatment of Alamkara: In this chapter it is shown that in the treatment of Sabdalamkaras there is a good deal of the involvement of the Grammarian's concept of the places of articulation and things of the sort, and that the definition, classification and even illustrations of many of the Arthalathkaras involve numerous Grammatical rules and Grammatical issues.
Chapter-V : Impact of Grammar on the Treatment of Gunas and Ritis In this chapter also the concepts of some of the Gunas are shown to have the involvement of various Grammatical ideas.
Chapter-VI : Impact of Grammar on the Treatment of Dosas : The Grammarian is concerned with chastity of verbal expressions and the literary critic also insists that the verbal expressions involved in the literary compositions should be free from blemishes and should be as idiomatic as possible. That is how there happens to be a large-scale involvement of Grammatical elements in the literary critic's treatment of the Dosas (i.e., literary blemishes).
Chapter-VII : Grammar in the Treatment of Vakrokti : This chapter contains an account of the development of the concept of Vakrokti followed by an analysis of the Grammatical elements involved in the Vakroktijivita of Kuntaka.
Chapter-VII : Grammar in the Treatment of Dhvani : In this chapter, unlike in the other chapters, there is practically no reference to the Sutras of Grammar. This chapter shows how the literary critic's concepts of Dhavni and Pratibha are based on the Grammarian's concepts of Sphota and the two types of Pratibha (i.e., Pratibha as intuition and Pratibha as Vakyartha). In this chapter it is shown that the impact of Grammar on poetics is confined not only to the area of the linguistic form of the verbal expressions, but the impact deserves to be discerned also in the matter of a philosophy, viz., the philosophy of Sabda-brahman.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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