89. 86 HISTORY OF SANSKRIT POETICS

86 HISTORY OF SANSKRIT POETICS

of speech he saw various works of others (on Alankārasāstra) and thought over the matter himself. 'समासेनोदितमिदं धीखेदायैव विस्तरः। असङ्कगृहीतमप्यन्यदभ्यूध्यमनया दिशा ।' (II. 95) and 'इति निगदि- तास्तास्ता वाचामलङ्कृतयो मया बहुविधकृतीर्वृष्ट्वान्येषां स्वयं परितर्क्र्य च' । (V.69). Vide I.13-15 'रूपकादिरल क्वारस्तस्यान्यं बहुधोदितः। रूपकादिमलक्कारं बास माचक्षते परे ।. The above references clearly show that before arHr flourished many writers on Alankara (including Medha- vin named by him) that had attained fame. It is probable as argued above that Bhamaha quotes five verses of Medhavin. At the end of the 2nd ufto occurs a verse which has been made much of by some scholars 'स्ययंकृतरेव निदर्शनैरियं मया प्रक्लृप्ता खलु वागलक्क तिः।' (96). What is the meaning of इयं वागलक्कतिः ? If these words refer to the whole of the work called काव्यालक्कार, then the statement (said to be very emphatic on account of the occurrence of the word ua) must be qualified. There are several examples in the work that are obviously borrowed e. g. IV. 8 'दाडिमानि दशापूपा: षडित्यादि यथोदितम्' (for which see below); I. 41 हिमापहामित्रधरर्व्याप्तं व्योमेत्यावाचकम्. Therefore, it cannot be asserted that every example in the book is Bhamaha's own. If the words refer only to the examples of figures of speech, the verse should have occurred at the end of the third परिच्छेद. Besides, even in the second परिच्छेद he quotes many verses from other writers. It is true that he gives the sources from which those quotations are taken. But there is no qualifying clause in the verse (स्वयंकृतरेव etc.) making an exception in favour of such borrowed verses. It is not unlikely that the names of some authors have been lost (if thcy occurred) in the lapse of centu- ries. The number of the mss. of Bhamaha's work is not so large as to make one feel confident about the accuracy of the present text of Bhamaha. For example, the लोचन (p. 87) says भामहेन हि गुरुदेवनृपतिपुत्रविषयप्रीतिवर्णनं प्रेयोलक्कार इत्युक्तम्, but भामह nowhere defines प्रेय: and only cites an example which refers to देव (III. 5). राघबभट्ट in his अर्थद्योतनिका on शाकुन्तल I. 2 first quotes भामह's definition of पर्यायोक (III. 8) and cites यं प्रेच्य as the illu- stration thereof given by arag and states that it is taken from the work हयग्रीव वध. This verse does not occur in the printed text. It is quoted by मम्मट under पर्यायोक्त. It is possible that राघवभis wrong in stating that the verse occurs in भामह. On शाकुन्तल I(कृष्णसारे), राघवभट्ट remarks 'नोपमानं तिडन्तेन' इति भामहोके :. But these words occur in the काव्यादर्श II. 227 and not in भामह