Abstract Kuntaka is known as the originator of the Vakrokti School of Sanskrit literary theory. Historically, he occupies a place between Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. Kuntaka lived at a period when literary criticism in India was acquiring a great sophistication. Among his contemporaries, his critical persuasions acquire a special significance. Vakrokti is a theory of poetry which perceives poetry essentially in terms of the language of its expression. He took vakrokti concept/ (term) from Bhahamaha and made it broader than him. He states that vakrokti is of six types. Vakrokti sees the poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. He developed his theory of vakrokti deriving inspiration from the dhvani theory. His theory helps greatly to practical criticism as an important aid. According to him the broadest principle which can do justice to all the categories of literary theory including dhvani is only vakrokti which might admit of innumerable varieties. Kuntanka‟s work on beauty of the poem is noteworthy. He widely described different types of figures of speech that are used in decorating the poem. He also highlights the uniqueness of the poet. When great poets compose different literary works based on an identical theme, they are each seen to possess infinite individual beauty, each of it possessing distinctiveness from the others. (Kuntaka, 1977) Introduction Vakrokti, emanating from the creative faculty of the poet endows poetic language with strikingness [Vaicitrya] and causes aesthetic delight to the reader. Etymologically, the word Vakrokti consists of two components – ‘vakra’ and ‘ukti’. The first component means “crooked, indirect or unique” and the second mean “poetic expression or speech”. It is manifested at six levels in language, viz. the phonetic level, [varṇavinyāsa], the lexical level [padapūrvārddha], the grammatical level [padaparārddha], the sentential level [vākya], the contextual level [prakaraṇa] and finally the compositional level [prabandha]. Kuntaka anticipates much of the modern stylistic approach to literature and his stylistics encompasses imaginative language at the micro and macro levels. The conscious choices made by the poet in the language are a fertile field of investigation in his approach. It is the considered view of Kuntaka that poetic language always deviates from hackneyed
expressions by its imaginative turns. Kuntaka avers that the stamp of originality of a great author will be present even in the title of the work of art. Vakrokti: The Theory of Language Kuntaka introduced the theory of Vakrokti in his well – known treatise Vakroktijivita. This theory appeared to counteract Anandavardhana’s theory of dhvani as it is also related with the suggestiveness of language. But it loses its claim because it is not as comprehensive as the theory of dhvani is. Vakroktijivitam means that vakrokti is the life of poetry where the term vakrokti denotes crooked speech or deviant language. Simply put, vakrokti represents that language which is strikingly different from its ordinary use. This theory of vakrokti, hence, perceives poetry essentially in terms of language of its expression. It considers poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. Sanskrit poetics and language starts from the base that includes sabda and artha. Neither sabda nor artha alone compose poetry. Poetry is not merely a linguistic entity, it is rather a beautiful expression. This beauty is generated by adding a specialty (visesh) to its language that may come from the artistic categories of words’ categories like – lakshana, alamkaraor guna. Lakshana represents the secondary meaning that is the word is used to signify something else. Alamkara studies literary language and assumes that the focus of literariness lies in the figures of speech, in the mode of figurative expression, in the grammatical accuracy and pleasantness of sound (euphony). This does not mean that meaning is ignored. Guna theory examines literary compositions in terms of qualities, both of form and meaning. The views expressed by Kuntaka seem to have echoes in the writings of certain western critics. Aristotle thinks that the difference between the ‘ordinary’ or ‘prose’ use of words and the ‘distinctive’ or ‘poetic’ use is inherent .Speaking of the oblique nature of poetry E.M.W. Tillyard says, “All poetry is more or less oblique: There is no direct poetry.” According to Paul Valery, the French symbolist, deviation of expression is a ‘mark of poetry.’ Here a deviant expression should not mean an ungrammatical one but an a normal expression. Poetry follows the norms of grammar but at the same time takes liberties with language. For example, the inversion of structure in the line “Bangle sellers are we..,” is not grammatically wrong but a stylistic device chosen by Sarojini Naidu to highlight the word ‘Bangle Sellers’. Rabindranath Tagore makes an interesting comment on the peculiar use of language in poetry: When we come to literature we find that though it conforms to rules of grammar it is yet a thing of joy; it is freedom itself. The beauty of a poem is bound by strict laws, yet it transcends them. One finds a striking parallel between the views of Kuntaka and those of John Mukarovsky, the Prague School linguist, regarding the notion of Vakrokti or deviance. Mukarovsky characterizes poetic language as an aesthetically purposeful distortion of standard language: and that the hallmark of literary language is foregrounding. When the normal language is not adequate enough to express a powerful emotion or when a particular Item / feature is to be foregrounded against the background of something, poets often distort the language to produce the intended effect. It is perhaps due to this reason that Roman
Jacabson, the Russian Formalist critic, rightly states that poetry is an “organised violence committed on ordinary speech”. Deviance is a common phenomenon in drama or poetry. As Mukarovsky says that poetry needs a purposeful distortion of language, one has to remember that the notion of deviance should not be unmotivated or casual. There should be a method even in poetic madness. So a deviant expression should be a motivated one and at the same time be backed up by the context. While motivated deviance gives rise to poetic delectation, unmotivated deviance like ‚The hill ate a mango‛, produces ludicrous effects. Having considered the views of both the Indian and the western critics as to the notion of Vakrokti or deviance in poetry, it is worthwhile to know how ‘vakrokti’ occurs in poetry. Kuntaka classifies ‘vakrokti’ into six categories: 1. Varna vinyasa vakrata 2. pada purvardha vakrata 3. pada parardha vakrata or pratyaya vakrata 4. vakya vakrata 5. prakarana vakrata 6. prabandha vakrata. Varnavinyasa vakrata shows itself in the arrangement of sounds. All Sabdalankaras (schemes) like alliteration “Love laughs at locksmiths”(Shakespeare), assonance “Break, break, break/On thy cold grey stones, O sea” (Tennyson) are examples of this kind of vakrokti. Padapuvardha vakrata is deviation in the choice of lexical items. This includes Rudhi, Upachara, Viseshana, Samvriti, paryaya, vritti, linga and kriya. Rudhivaicitrya vakrata refers to a nominal item used to express the association of ideas and emotional overtones of the item. For example, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”. Upacara Vakrata (upacara means transfer) indicates fancied correspondence between two objects through the use of particular words. For example, ‚Death lays his icy hands on kings”. Visesana vakrata referes to the adjective used to produce a particular effect, either in contrast or harmony. Milton uses ‚Blind mouths‛ for corrupt priests in the poem ‘Lycidas’. The expression ‘Cold Coffee’ in Pope’s poem is not cold in sense but a sign of boredom. Samvriti is a covert expression or innuendo. Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” serves as a good example here. Paryaya vakrata is related to synonymy. An example of this kind can be found in such words as ‘Mum and Dad’ in “greese to the elbows Mum and Dad enthuse” (A.D. Hope: The Brides) vritti vakrata is found in the compound words used to achieve the beauty of brevity and pedanticity . In Hopkins’ ‚The starlight Night‛ the stars are described as the fire-folk sitting in the air. Linga Vakrata is deviation in the use of gender. In the poem “The Brides” the poet, while satirizing modern man’s craze for automobiles, refers to them as brides. Kriya vakrata (relating to verb) occurs in the line “Parson with a prayer blesses the number –plate” (The Brides). Padapurvardha Vakrata is concerned with kala (time), karaka (case), Samkhya (number), purusa (person), upagraha (voice) and particles. Kala vakrata can be noticed when the past is described in the present to produce dramatic effect (Historic Present). “Loud sounds the Axe, redoubling strokes on strokes;
On all sides round the Forest hurdles her Oaks Headlong” (Pope: The Iliad) One can discern strikingness in a series of possessives used by Hopkins’ in “Our heart’s charity’s hearth’s fire, our thought’s chivalry’s throng’s Lord.”(The Wreck of the Deutschland). The other varieties of padapurvardha vakrata refer to the deviations in their terminals, which are aimed at producing a particular effect. Vakya vakrata occurs at the sentence level as in ‚Irks care the crop –full bird?‛ (Browning). Kuntaka says that this includes all ardhalankaras (tropes) like simile (My love is like a red, red rose), metaphor (The world is an unweeded garden) paradox, (Deep down he’s really shallow) and the like. The other two kinds of vakrata, unlike the above, are related to literary structure prakarana vakrata is a deviation from tradition in the choice of an incident of a literary work. Techniques like ‘garbhanka’ (a play within a play) in ‘Hamlet’ can be cited as the nearest example of structural deviance. Prabandha vakrata is concerned with the totality of the work in all its aspects. It is difficult to find a striking example of this kind in English Literature. (But see Nabokov’s Pale Fire) Kuntaka says that, apart from the six types, there may exist several kinds of vakrokti, depending on the creative genius of individual poets. Of all the critical approaches emerged in the west, stylistic approach comes close to Kuntaka’s vakrokti. Stylistics makes a systematic study of literary texts by using the tools of linguistics. Dr. Geoffrey Leech speaks of eight kinds of deviation in poetry. They are as follows: 1. Linguistic Deviation (neolgisms, affixation, compounding etc.,) a) Milton’s ‘Pandemonium’ , Shakespeare’s ‘Bare – faced’ b) ‘Out mosquito’ in “Am I not mosquito enough to Out–mosquito you?” (D.H. Lawrence: Mosquito) c) ‘Dapple – dawn –drawn Falcon (in The Wind hover) 2. Grammatical Deviation: a) Edible smells (Fanxy Howe : Not as Much) b) The dog it was that died (Oliver Goldsmith: An Elegy on the Death of a Mad dog). 3. Phonogical Deviation: a) Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? (Elision of the sound in the word ‘oft’) 4. Graphological Deviation: It lies in certain unusualness in the visual pattern of a poem.
The Red wheel barrow / so much depends / upon / a red wheel /barrow / glazed with rain / water/ beside the white / chickens. 5. Semantic Deviation: a) The sky grows dark with invitation -cards (Phillip Larkin: Wants). b) The child is the father of man (William Wordsworth). 6. Dialectal Deviation: (Mixing of other dialects with English) : The line from Robert Burns: “The best – laid schemes O’mice an ‘men gang aft a –gley.” Is identified as Scots because of words like gang(go) and a – gley (awry). 7. Deviation in Register (mixing of various registers in poetry): This is found in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”. 8. Historical Deviation: Here the language of the past is used in contemporary poetry. “No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red” (Shakespeare: Macbeth) According to Leech, the first five are main deviations and the last three, ancillary deviations. But the kinds of deviation stated by Leech do not go beyond the linguistic framework and touch upon extra-linguistic aspects like conceptual deviance. Conceptual deviance is more important than linguistic deviance. All great literature is the product of conceptual deviance. Moreover the conception or worldview of a writer gets reflected in the language. When Macbeth says, ‚Life’s a walking shadow, a poor player …..a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing”, One finds in him a different conception of life – meaninglessness. Shakespeare presents this notion through three different images: a walking shadow (an unusual collocation), a poor player and a tale told by an idiot. Here the idea and the diction get each reinforced by the other and this brings uniqueness to the passage. So mere formal grammatical framework is not enough to bring out all the aspects of a literary work. In contrast with the western notion of deviance, Kuntaka’s Vakrokti is quite comprehensive and systematic. The analytical framework established by him is concerned not only with the parts but also with the totality of a work of art.
Bibliography 1. De, S.K. 1992. ‘Kuntaka’s Theory of poetry: Vakrokti’ Ed. V.S.Seturaman Madras: MacMillan. 2. Pathak, R.S. 1985. ‘Vakrokti and the Language of Poetry’, Ed.M.S.Kushwaha Lucknow: Argo Publishing House. 3. Ramachandran, C.N. 1994. ‘Vakrokti in Application: An Examination’. Ed C.D. Narasimhaiah .New Delhi: Sahitya Academi. 4. Richards, I.A. ‘Pseudo Statements’. 5. Sastri, M.I.‚ ‘Style As Deviance’, Hyderabad CIEFL. 6. Suresh Kumar 1988.”Stylistics and Language Teaching”. Delhi : Kalinga Publications. 7. Venkata Subbaiah, V.1988.‚ “Vakrokti and Modes of poetic Deviation”. 8. Vijayavardhana .1970. ‚Outlines of Sanskrit poetics‛, Varanasi: Chowkamba Sanskrit Series office. 9. Widdowson, H.G. 1989. ‘Stylistics’, Contemporary Criticism Ed.V.S. Seturaman. Madras: Macmillan India Ltd.Abstract Kuntaka is known as the originator of the Vakrokti School of Sanskrit literary theory. Historically, he occupies a place between Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. Kuntaka lived at a period when literary criticism in India was acquiring a great sophistication. Among his contemporaries, his critical persuasions acquire a special significance. Vakrokti is a theory of poetry which perceives poetry essentially in terms of the language of its expression. He took vakrokti concept/ (term) from Bhahamaha and made it broader than him. He states that vakrokti is of six types. Vakrokti sees the poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. He developed his theory of vakrokti deriving inspiration from the dhvani theory. His theory helps greatly to practical criticism as an important aid. According to him the broadest principle which can do justice to all the categories of literary theory including dhvani is only vakrokti which might admit of innumerable varieties. Kuntanka‟s work on beauty of the poem is noteworthy. He widely described different types of figures of speech that are used in decorating the poem. He also highlights the uniqueness of the poet. When great poets compose different literary works based on an identical theme, they are each seen to possess infinite individual beauty, each of it possessing distinctiveness from the others. (Kuntaka, 1977) Introduction Vakrokti, emanating from the creative faculty of the poet endows poetic language with strikingness [Vaicitrya] and causes aesthetic delight to the reader. Etymologically, the word Vakrokti consists of two components – ‘vakra’ and ‘ukti’. The first component means “crooked, indirect or unique” and the second mean “poetic expression or speech”. It is manifested at six levels in language, viz. the phonetic level, [varṇavinyāsa], the lexical level [padapūrvārddha], the grammatical level [padaparārddha], the sentential level [vākya], the contextual level [prakaraṇa] and finally the compositional level [prabandha]. Kuntaka anticipates much of the modern stylistic approach to literature and his stylistics encompasses imaginative language at the micro and macro levels. The conscious choices made by the poet in the language are a fertile field of investigation in his approach. It is the considered view of Kuntaka that poetic language always deviates from hackneyed
expressions by its imaginative turns. Kuntaka avers that the stamp of originality of a great author will be present even in the title of the work of art. Vakrokti: The Theory of Language Kuntaka introduced the theory of Vakrokti in his well – known treatise Vakroktijivita. This theory appeared to counteract Anandavardhana’s theory of dhvani as it is also related with the suggestiveness of language. But it loses its claim because it is not as comprehensive as the theory of dhvani is. Vakroktijivitam means that vakrokti is the life of poetry where the term vakrokti denotes crooked speech or deviant language. Simply put, vakrokti represents that language which is strikingly different from its ordinary use. This theory of vakrokti, hence, perceives poetry essentially in terms of language of its expression. It considers poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. Sanskrit poetics and language starts from the base that includes sabda and artha. Neither sabda nor artha alone compose poetry. Poetry is not merely a linguistic entity, it is rather a beautiful expression. This beauty is generated by adding a specialty (visesh) to its language that may come from the artistic categories of words’ categories like – lakshana, alamkaraor guna. Lakshana represents the secondary meaning that is the word is used to signify something else. Alamkara studies literary language and assumes that the focus of literariness lies in the figures of speech, in the mode of figurative expression, in the grammatical accuracy and pleasantness of sound (euphony). This does not mean that meaning is ignored. Guna theory examines literary compositions in terms of qualities, both of form and meaning. The views expressed by Kuntaka seem to have echoes in the writings of certain western critics. Aristotle thinks that the difference between the ‘ordinary’ or ‘prose’ use of words and the ‘distinctive’ or ‘poetic’ use is inherent .Speaking of the oblique nature of poetry E.M.W. Tillyard says, “All poetry is more or less oblique: There is no direct poetry.” According to Paul Valery, the French symbolist, deviation of expression is a ‘mark of poetry.’ Here a deviant expression should not mean an ungrammatical one but an a normal expression. Poetry follows the norms of grammar but at the same time takes liberties with language. For example, the inversion of structure in the line “Bangle sellers are we..,” is not grammatically wrong but a stylistic device chosen by Sarojini Naidu to highlight the word ‘Bangle Sellers’. Rabindranath Tagore makes an interesting comment on the peculiar use of language in poetry: When we come to literature we find that though it conforms to rules of grammar it is yet a thing of joy; it is freedom itself. The beauty of a poem is bound by strict laws, yet it transcends them. One finds a striking parallel between the views of Kuntaka and those of John Mukarovsky, the Prague School linguist, regarding the notion of Vakrokti or deviance. Mukarovsky characterizes poetic language as an aesthetically purposeful distortion of standard language: and that the hallmark of literary language is foregrounding. When the normal language is not adequate enough to express a powerful emotion or when a particular Item / feature is to be foregrounded against the background of something, poets often distort the language to produce the intended effect. It is perhaps due to this reason that Roman
Jacabson, the Russian Formalist critic, rightly states that poetry is an “organised violence committed on ordinary speech”. Deviance is a common phenomenon in drama or poetry. As Mukarovsky says that poetry needs a purposeful distortion of language, one has to remember that the notion of deviance should not be unmotivated or casual. There should be a method even in poetic madness. So a deviant expression should be a motivated one and at the same time be backed up by the context. While motivated deviance gives rise to poetic delectation, unmotivated deviance like ‚The hill ate a mango‛, produces ludicrous effects. Having considered the views of both the Indian and the western critics as to the notion of Vakrokti or deviance in poetry, it is worthwhile to know how ‘vakrokti’ occurs in poetry. Kuntaka classifies ‘vakrokti’ into six categories: 1. Varna vinyasa vakrata 2. pada purvardha vakrata 3. pada parardha vakrata or pratyaya vakrata 4. vakya vakrata 5. prakarana vakrata 6. prabandha vakrata. Varnavinyasa vakrata shows itself in the arrangement of sounds. All Sabdalankaras (schemes) like alliteration “Love laughs at locksmiths”(Shakespeare), assonance “Break, break, break/On thy cold grey stones, O sea” (Tennyson) are examples of this kind of vakrokti. Padapuvardha vakrata is deviation in the choice of lexical items. This includes Rudhi, Upachara, Viseshana, Samvriti, paryaya, vritti, linga and kriya. Rudhivaicitrya vakrata refers to a nominal item used to express the association of ideas and emotional overtones of the item. For example, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”. Upacara Vakrata (upacara means transfer) indicates fancied correspondence between two objects through the use of particular words. For example, ‚Death lays his icy hands on kings”. Visesana vakrata referes to the adjective used to produce a particular effect, either in contrast or harmony. Milton uses ‚Blind mouths‛ for corrupt priests in the poem ‘Lycidas’. The expression ‘Cold Coffee’ in Pope’s poem is not cold in sense but a sign of boredom. Samvriti is a covert expression or innuendo. Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” serves as a good example here. Paryaya vakrata is related to synonymy. An example of this kind can be found in such words as ‘Mum and Dad’ in “greese to the elbows Mum and Dad enthuse” (A.D. Hope: The Brides) vritti vakrata is found in the compound words used to achieve the beauty of brevity and pedanticity . In Hopkins’ ‚The starlight Night‛ the stars are described as the fire-folk sitting in the air. Linga Vakrata is deviation in the use of gender. In the poem “The Brides” the poet, while satirizing modern man’s craze for automobiles, refers to them as brides. Kriya vakrata (relating to verb) occurs in the line “Parson with a prayer blesses the number –plate” (The Brides). Padapurvardha Vakrata is concerned with kala (time), karaka (case), Samkhya (number), purusa (person), upagraha (voice) and particles. Kala vakrata can be noticed when the past is described in the present to produce dramatic effect (Historic Present). “Loud sounds the Axe, redoubling strokes on strokes;
On all sides round the Forest hurdles her Oaks Headlong” (Pope: The Iliad) One can discern strikingness in a series of possessives used by Hopkins’ in “Our heart’s charity’s hearth’s fire, our thought’s chivalry’s throng’s Lord.”(The Wreck of the Deutschland). The other varieties of padapurvardha vakrata refer to the deviations in their terminals, which are aimed at producing a particular effect. Vakya vakrata occurs at the sentence level as in ‚Irks care the crop –full bird?‛ (Browning). Kuntaka says that this includes all ardhalankaras (tropes) like simile (My love is like a red, red rose), metaphor (The world is an unweeded garden) paradox, (Deep down he’s really shallow) and the like. The other two kinds of vakrata, unlike the above, are related to literary structure prakarana vakrata is a deviation from tradition in the choice of an incident of a literary work. Techniques like ‘garbhanka’ (a play within a play) in ‘Hamlet’ can be cited as the nearest example of structural deviance. Prabandha vakrata is concerned with the totality of the work in all its aspects. It is difficult to find a striking example of this kind in English Literature. (But see Nabokov’s Pale Fire) Kuntaka says that, apart from the six types, there may exist several kinds of vakrokti, depending on the creative genius of individual poets. Of all the critical approaches emerged in the west, stylistic approach comes close to Kuntaka’s vakrokti. Stylistics makes a systematic study of literary texts by using the tools of linguistics. Dr. Geoffrey Leech speaks of eight kinds of deviation in poetry. They are as follows: 1. Linguistic Deviation (neolgisms, affixation, compounding etc.,) a) Milton’s ‘Pandemonium’ , Shakespeare’s ‘Bare – faced’ b) ‘Out mosquito’ in “Am I not mosquito enough to Out–mosquito you?” (D.H. Lawrence: Mosquito) c) ‘Dapple – dawn –drawn Falcon (in The Wind hover) 2. Grammatical Deviation: a) Edible smells (Fanxy Howe : Not as Much) b) The dog it was that died (Oliver Goldsmith: An Elegy on the Death of a Mad dog). 3. Phonogical Deviation: a) Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? (Elision of the sound in the word ‘oft’) 4. Graphological Deviation: It lies in certain unusualness in the visual pattern of a poem.
The Red wheel barrow / so much depends / upon / a red wheel /barrow / glazed with rain / water/ beside the white / chickens. 5. Semantic Deviation: a) The sky grows dark with invitation -cards (Phillip Larkin: Wants). b) The child is the father of man (William Wordsworth). 6. Dialectal Deviation: (Mixing of other dialects with English) : The line from Robert Burns: “The best – laid schemes O’mice an ‘men gang aft a –gley.” Is identified as Scots because of words like gang(go) and a – gley (awry). 7. Deviation in Register (mixing of various registers in poetry): This is found in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”. 8. Historical Deviation: Here the language of the past is used in contemporary poetry. “No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red” (Shakespeare: Macbeth) According to Leech, the first five are main deviations and the last three, ancillary deviations. But the kinds of deviation stated by Leech do not go beyond the linguistic framework and touch upon extra-linguistic aspects like conceptual deviance. Conceptual deviance is more important than linguistic deviance. All great literature is the product of conceptual deviance. Moreover the conception or worldview of a writer gets reflected in the language. When Macbeth says, ‚Life’s a walking shadow, a poor player …..a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing”, One finds in him a different conception of life – meaninglessness. Shakespeare presents this notion through three different images: a walking shadow (an unusual collocation), a poor player and a tale told by an idiot. Here the idea and the diction get each reinforced by the other and this brings uniqueness to the passage. So mere formal grammatical framework is not enough to bring out all the aspects of a literary work. In contrast with the western notion of deviance, Kuntaka’s Vakrokti is quite comprehensive and systematic. The analytical framework established by him is concerned not only with the parts but also with the totality of a work of art.
Bibliography 1. De, S.K. 1992. ‘Kuntaka’s Theory of poetry: Vakrokti’ Ed. V.S.Seturaman Madras: MacMillan. 2. Pathak, R.S. 1985. ‘Vakrokti and the Language of Poetry’, Ed.M.S.Kushwaha Lucknow: Argo Publishing House. 3. Ramachandran, C.N. 1994. ‘Vakrokti in Application: An Examination’. Ed C.D. Narasimhaiah .New Delhi: Sahitya Academi. 4. Richards, I.A. ‘Pseudo Statements’. 5. Sastri, M.I.‚ ‘Style As Deviance’, Hyderabad CIEFL. 6. Suresh Kumar 1988.”Stylistics and Language Teaching”. Delhi : Kalinga Publications. 7. Venkata Subbaiah, V.1988.‚ “Vakrokti and Modes of poetic Deviation”. 8. Vijayavardhana .1970. ‚Outlines of Sanskrit poetics‛, Varanasi: Chowkamba Sanskrit Series office. 9. Widdowson, H.G. 1989. ‘Stylistics’, Contemporary Criticism Ed.V.S. Seturaman. Madras: Macmillan India Ltd.Abstract Kuntaka is known as the originator of the Vakrokti School of Sanskrit literary theory. Historically, he occupies a place between Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. Kuntaka lived at a period when literary criticism in India was acquiring a great sophistication. Among his contemporaries, his critical persuasions acquire a special significance. Vakrokti is a theory of poetry which perceives poetry essentially in terms of the language of its expression. He took vakrokti concept/ (term) from Bhahamaha and made it broader than him. He states that vakrokti is of six types. Vakrokti sees the poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. He developed his theory of vakrokti deriving inspiration from the dhvani theory. His theory helps greatly to practical criticism as an important aid. According to him the broadest principle which can do justice to all the categories of literary theory including dhvani is only vakrokti which might admit of innumerable varieties. Kuntanka‟s work on beauty of the poem is noteworthy. He widely described different types of figures of speech that are used in decorating the poem. He also highlights the uniqueness of the poet. When great poets compose different literary works based on an identical theme, they are each seen to possess infinite individual beauty, each of it possessing distinctiveness from the others. (Kuntaka, 1977) Introduction Vakrokti, emanating from the creative faculty of the poet endows poetic language with strikingness [Vaicitrya] and causes aesthetic delight to the reader. Etymologically, the word Vakrokti consists of two components – ‘vakra’ and ‘ukti’. The first component means “crooked, indirect or unique” and the second mean “poetic expression or speech”. It is manifested at six levels in language, viz. the phonetic level, [varṇavinyāsa], the lexical level [padapūrvārddha], the grammatical level [padaparārddha], the sentential level [vākya], the contextual level [prakaraṇa] and finally the compositional level [prabandha]. Kuntaka anticipates much of the modern stylistic approach to literature and his stylistics encompasses imaginative language at the micro and macro levels. The conscious choices made by the poet in the language are a fertile field of investigation in his approach. It is the considered view of Kuntaka that poetic language always deviates from hackneyed
expressions by its imaginative turns. Kuntaka avers that the stamp of originality of a great author will be present even in the title of the work of art. Vakrokti: The Theory of Language Kuntaka introduced the theory of Vakrokti in his well – known treatise Vakroktijivita. This theory appeared to counteract Anandavardhana’s theory of dhvani as it is also related with the suggestiveness of language. But it loses its claim because it is not as comprehensive as the theory of dhvani is. Vakroktijivitam means that vakrokti is the life of poetry where the term vakrokti denotes crooked speech or deviant language. Simply put, vakrokti represents that language which is strikingly different from its ordinary use. This theory of vakrokti, hence, perceives poetry essentially in terms of language of its expression. It considers poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. Sanskrit poetics and language starts from the base that includes sabda and artha. Neither sabda nor artha alone compose poetry. Poetry is not merely a linguistic entity, it is rather a beautiful expression. This beauty is generated by adding a specialty (visesh) to its language that may come from the artistic categories of words’ categories like – lakshana, alamkaraor guna. Lakshana represents the secondary meaning that is the word is used to signify something else. Alamkara studies literary language and assumes that the focus of literariness lies in the figures of speech, in the mode of figurative expression, in the grammatical accuracy and pleasantness of sound (euphony). This does not mean that meaning is ignored. Guna theory examines literary compositions in terms of qualities, both of form and meaning. The views expressed by Kuntaka seem to have echoes in the writings of certain western critics. Aristotle thinks that the difference between the ‘ordinary’ or ‘prose’ use of words and the ‘distinctive’ or ‘poetic’ use is inherent .Speaking of the oblique nature of poetry E.M.W. Tillyard says, “All poetry is more or less oblique: There is no direct poetry.” According to Paul Valery, the French symbolist, deviation of expression is a ‘mark of poetry.’ Here a deviant expression should not mean an ungrammatical one but an a normal expression. Poetry follows the norms of grammar but at the same time takes liberties with language. For example, the inversion of structure in the line “Bangle sellers are we..,” is not grammatically wrong but a stylistic device chosen by Sarojini Naidu to highlight the word ‘Bangle Sellers’. Rabindranath Tagore makes an interesting comment on the peculiar use of language in poetry: When we come to literature we find that though it conforms to rules of grammar it is yet a thing of joy; it is freedom itself. The beauty of a poem is bound by strict laws, yet it transcends them. One finds a striking parallel between the views of Kuntaka and those of John Mukarovsky, the Prague School linguist, regarding the notion of Vakrokti or deviance. Mukarovsky characterizes poetic language as an aesthetically purposeful distortion of standard language: and that the hallmark of literary language is foregrounding. When the normal language is not adequate enough to express a powerful emotion or when a particular Item / feature is to be foregrounded against the background of something, poets often distort the language to produce the intended effect. It is perhaps due to this reason that Roman
Jacabson, the Russian Formalist critic, rightly states that poetry is an “organised violence committed on ordinary speech”. Deviance is a common phenomenon in drama or poetry. As Mukarovsky says that poetry needs a purposeful distortion of language, one has to remember that the notion of deviance should not be unmotivated or casual. There should be a method even in poetic madness. So a deviant expression should be a motivated one and at the same time be backed up by the context. While motivated deviance gives rise to poetic delectation, unmotivated deviance like ‚The hill ate a mango‛, produces ludicrous effects. Having considered the views of both the Indian and the western critics as to the notion of Vakrokti or deviance in poetry, it is worthwhile to know how ‘vakrokti’ occurs in poetry. Kuntaka classifies ‘vakrokti’ into six categories: 1. Varna vinyasa vakrata 2. pada purvardha vakrata 3. pada parardha vakrata or pratyaya vakrata 4. vakya vakrata 5. prakarana vakrata 6. prabandha vakrata. Varnavinyasa vakrata shows itself in the arrangement of sounds. All Sabdalankaras (schemes) like alliteration “Love laughs at locksmiths”(Shakespeare), assonance “Break, break, break/On thy cold grey stones, O sea” (Tennyson) are examples of this kind of vakrokti. Padapuvardha vakrata is deviation in the choice of lexical items. This includes Rudhi, Upachara, Viseshana, Samvriti, paryaya, vritti, linga and kriya. Rudhivaicitrya vakrata refers to a nominal item used to express the association of ideas and emotional overtones of the item. For example, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”. Upacara Vakrata (upacara means transfer) indicates fancied correspondence between two objects through the use of particular words. For example, ‚Death lays his icy hands on kings”. Visesana vakrata referes to the adjective used to produce a particular effect, either in contrast or harmony. Milton uses ‚Blind mouths‛ for corrupt priests in the poem ‘Lycidas’. The expression ‘Cold Coffee’ in Pope’s poem is not cold in sense but a sign of boredom. Samvriti is a covert expression or innuendo. Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” serves as a good example here. Paryaya vakrata is related to synonymy. An example of this kind can be found in such words as ‘Mum and Dad’ in “greese to the elbows Mum and Dad enthuse” (A.D. Hope: The Brides) vritti vakrata is found in the compound words used to achieve the beauty of brevity and pedanticity . In Hopkins’ ‚The starlight Night‛ the stars are described as the fire-folk sitting in the air. Linga Vakrata is deviation in the use of gender. In the poem “The Brides” the poet, while satirizing modern man’s craze for automobiles, refers to them as brides. Kriya vakrata (relating to verb) occurs in the line “Parson with a prayer blesses the number –plate” (The Brides). Padapurvardha Vakrata is concerned with kala (time), karaka (case), Samkhya (number), purusa (person), upagraha (voice) and particles. Kala vakrata can be noticed when the past is described in the present to produce dramatic effect (Historic Present). “Loud sounds the Axe, redoubling strokes on strokes;
On all sides round the Forest hurdles her Oaks Headlong” (Pope: The Iliad) One can discern strikingness in a series of possessives used by Hopkins’ in “Our heart’s charity’s hearth’s fire, our thought’s chivalry’s throng’s Lord.”(The Wreck of the Deutschland). The other varieties of padapurvardha vakrata refer to the deviations in their terminals, which are aimed at producing a particular effect. Vakya vakrata occurs at the sentence level as in ‚Irks care the crop –full bird?‛ (Browning). Kuntaka says that this includes all ardhalankaras (tropes) like simile (My love is like a red, red rose), metaphor (The world is an unweeded garden) paradox, (Deep down he’s really shallow) and the like. The other two kinds of vakrata, unlike the above, are related to literary structure prakarana vakrata is a deviation from tradition in the choice of an incident of a literary work. Techniques like ‘garbhanka’ (a play within a play) in ‘Hamlet’ can be cited as the nearest example of structural deviance. Prabandha vakrata is concerned with the totality of the work in all its aspects. It is difficult to find a striking example of this kind in English Literature. (But see Nabokov’s Pale Fire) Kuntaka says that, apart from the six types, there may exist several kinds of vakrokti, depending on the creative genius of individual poets. Of all the critical approaches emerged in the west, stylistic approach comes close to Kuntaka’s vakrokti. Stylistics makes a systematic study of literary texts by using the tools of linguistics. Dr. Geoffrey Leech speaks of eight kinds of deviation in poetry. They are as follows: 1. Linguistic Deviation (neolgisms, affixation, compounding etc.,) a) Milton’s ‘Pandemonium’ , Shakespeare’s ‘Bare – faced’ b) ‘Out mosquito’ in “Am I not mosquito enough to Out–mosquito you?” (D.H. Lawrence: Mosquito) c) ‘Dapple – dawn –drawn Falcon (in The Wind hover) 2. Grammatical Deviation: a) Edible smells (Fanxy Howe : Not as Much) b) The dog it was that died (Oliver Goldsmith: An Elegy on the Death of a Mad dog). 3. Phonogical Deviation: a) Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? (Elision of the sound in the word ‘oft’) 4. Graphological Deviation: It lies in certain unusualness in the visual pattern of a poem.
The Red wheel barrow / so much depends / upon / a red wheel /barrow / glazed with rain / water/ beside the white / chickens. 5. Semantic Deviation: a) The sky grows dark with invitation -cards (Phillip Larkin: Wants). b) The child is the father of man (William Wordsworth). 6. Dialectal Deviation: (Mixing of other dialects with English) : The line from Robert Burns: “The best – laid schemes O’mice an ‘men gang aft a –gley.” Is identified as Scots because of words like gang(go) and a – gley (awry). 7. Deviation in Register (mixing of various registers in poetry): This is found in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”. 8. Historical Deviation: Here the language of the past is used in contemporary poetry. “No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red” (Shakespeare: Macbeth) According to Leech, the first five are main deviations and the last three, ancillary deviations. But the kinds of deviation stated by Leech do not go beyond the linguistic framework and touch upon extra-linguistic aspects like conceptual deviance. Conceptual deviance is more important than linguistic deviance. All great literature is the product of conceptual deviance. Moreover the conception or worldview of a writer gets reflected in the language. When Macbeth says, ‚Life’s a walking shadow, a poor player …..a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing”, One finds in him a different conception of life – meaninglessness. Shakespeare presents this notion through three different images: a walking shadow (an unusual collocation), a poor player and a tale told by an idiot. Here the idea and the diction get each reinforced by the other and this brings uniqueness to the passage. So mere formal grammatical framework is not enough to bring out all the aspects of a literary work. In contrast with the western notion of deviance, Kuntaka’s Vakrokti is quite comprehensive and systematic. The analytical framework established by him is concerned not only with the parts but also with the totality of a work of art.
Bibliography 1. De, S.K. 1992. ‘Kuntaka’s Theory of poetry: Vakrokti’ Ed. V.S.Seturaman Madras: MacMillan. 2. Pathak, R.S. 1985. ‘Vakrokti and the Language of Poetry’, Ed.M.S.Kushwaha Lucknow: Argo Publishing House. 3. Ramachandran, C.N. 1994. ‘Vakrokti in Application: An Examination’. Ed C.D. Narasimhaiah .New Delhi: Sahitya Academi. 4. Richards, I.A. ‘Pseudo Statements’. 5. Sastri, M.I.‚ ‘Style As Deviance’, Hyderabad CIEFL. 6. Suresh Kumar 1988.”Stylistics and Language Teaching”. Delhi : Kalinga Publications. 7. Venkata Subbaiah, V.1988.‚ “Vakrokti and Modes of poetic Deviation”. 8. Vijayavardhana .1970. ‚Outlines of Sanskrit poetics‛, Varanasi: Chowkamba Sanskrit Series office. 9. Widdowson, H.G. 1989. ‘Stylistics’, Contemporary Criticism Ed.V.S. Seturaman. Madras: Macmillan India Ltd.Abstract Kuntaka is known as the originator of the Vakrokti School of Sanskrit literary theory. Historically, he occupies a place between Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. Kuntaka lived at a period when literary criticism in India was acquiring a great sophistication. Among his contemporaries, his critical persuasions acquire a special significance. Vakrokti is a theory of poetry which perceives poetry essentially in terms of the language of its expression. He took vakrokti concept/ (term) from Bhahamaha and made it broader than him. He states that vakrokti is of six types. Vakrokti sees the poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. He developed his theory of vakrokti deriving inspiration from the dhvani theory. His theory helps greatly to practical criticism as an important aid. According to him the broadest principle which can do justice to all the categories of literary theory including dhvani is only vakrokti which might admit of innumerable varieties. Kuntanka‟s work on beauty of the poem is noteworthy. He widely described different types of figures of speech that are used in decorating the poem. He also highlights the uniqueness of the poet. When great poets compose different literary works based on an identical theme, they are each seen to possess infinite individual beauty, each of it possessing distinctiveness from the others. (Kuntaka, 1977) Introduction Vakrokti, emanating from the creative faculty of the poet endows poetic language with strikingness [Vaicitrya] and causes aesthetic delight to the reader. Etymologically, the word Vakrokti consists of two components – ‘vakra’ and ‘ukti’. The first component means “crooked, indirect or unique” and the second mean “poetic expression or speech”. It is manifested at six levels in language, viz. the phonetic level, [varṇavinyāsa], the lexical level [padapūrvārddha], the grammatical level [padaparārddha], the sentential level [vākya], the contextual level [prakaraṇa] and finally the compositional level [prabandha]. Kuntaka anticipates much of the modern stylistic approach to literature and his stylistics encompasses imaginative language at the micro and macro levels. The conscious choices made by the poet in the language are a fertile field of investigation in his approach. It is the considered view of Kuntaka that poetic language always deviates from hackneyed
expressions by its imaginative turns. Kuntaka avers that the stamp of originality of a great author will be present even in the title of the work of art. Vakrokti: The Theory of Language Kuntaka introduced the theory of Vakrokti in his well – known treatise Vakroktijivita. This theory appeared to counteract Anandavardhana’s theory of dhvani as it is also related with the suggestiveness of language. But it loses its claim because it is not as comprehensive as the theory of dhvani is. Vakroktijivitam means that vakrokti is the life of poetry where the term vakrokti denotes crooked speech or deviant language. Simply put, vakrokti represents that language which is strikingly different from its ordinary use. This theory of vakrokti, hence, perceives poetry essentially in terms of language of its expression. It considers poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. Sanskrit poetics and language starts from the base that includes sabda and artha. Neither sabda nor artha alone compose poetry. Poetry is not merely a linguistic entity, it is rather a beautiful expression. This beauty is generated by adding a specialty (visesh) to its language that may come from the artistic categories of words’ categories like – lakshana, alamkaraor guna. Lakshana represents the secondary meaning that is the word is used to signify something else. Alamkara studies literary language and assumes that the focus of literariness lies in the figures of speech, in the mode of figurative expression, in the grammatical accuracy and pleasantness of sound (euphony). This does not mean that meaning is ignored. Guna theory examines literary compositions in terms of qualities, both of form and meaning. The views expressed by Kuntaka seem to have echoes in the writings of certain western critics. Aristotle thinks that the difference between the ‘ordinary’ or ‘prose’ use of words and the ‘distinctive’ or ‘poetic’ use is inherent .Speaking of the oblique nature of poetry E.M.W. Tillyard says, “All poetry is more or less oblique: There is no direct poetry.” According to Paul Valery, the French symbolist, deviation of expression is a ‘mark of poetry.’ Here a deviant expression should not mean an ungrammatical one but an a normal expression. Poetry follows the norms of grammar but at the same time takes liberties with language. For example, the inversion of structure in the line “Bangle sellers are we..,” is not grammatically wrong but a stylistic device chosen by Sarojini Naidu to highlight the word ‘Bangle Sellers’. Rabindranath Tagore makes an interesting comment on the peculiar use of language in poetry: When we come to literature we find that though it conforms to rules of grammar it is yet a thing of joy; it is freedom itself. The beauty of a poem is bound by strict laws, yet it transcends them. One finds a striking parallel between the views of Kuntaka and those of John Mukarovsky, the Prague School linguist, regarding the notion of Vakrokti or deviance. Mukarovsky characterizes poetic language as an aesthetically purposeful distortion of standard language: and that the hallmark of literary language is foregrounding. When the normal language is not adequate enough to express a powerful emotion or when a particular Item / feature is to be foregrounded against the background of something, poets often distort the language to produce the intended effect. It is perhaps due to this reason that Roman
Jacabson, the Russian Formalist critic, rightly states that poetry is an “organised violence committed on ordinary speech”. Deviance is a common phenomenon in drama or poetry. As Mukarovsky says that poetry needs a purposeful distortion of language, one has to remember that the notion of deviance should not be unmotivated or casual. There should be a method even in poetic madness. So a deviant expression should be a motivated one and at the same time be backed up by the context. While motivated deviance gives rise to poetic delectation, unmotivated deviance like ‚The hill ate a mango‛, produces ludicrous effects. Having considered the views of both the Indian and the western critics as to the notion of Vakrokti or deviance in poetry, it is worthwhile to know how ‘vakrokti’ occurs in poetry. Kuntaka classifies ‘vakrokti’ into six categories: 1. Varna vinyasa vakrata 2. pada purvardha vakrata 3. pada parardha vakrata or pratyaya vakrata 4. vakya vakrata 5. prakarana vakrata 6. prabandha vakrata. Varnavinyasa vakrata shows itself in the arrangement of sounds. All Sabdalankaras (schemes) like alliteration “Love laughs at locksmiths”(Shakespeare), assonance “Break, break, break/On thy cold grey stones, O sea” (Tennyson) are examples of this kind of vakrokti. Padapuvardha vakrata is deviation in the choice of lexical items. This includes Rudhi, Upachara, Viseshana, Samvriti, paryaya, vritti, linga and kriya. Rudhivaicitrya vakrata refers to a nominal item used to express the association of ideas and emotional overtones of the item. For example, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”. Upacara Vakrata (upacara means transfer) indicates fancied correspondence between two objects through the use of particular words. For example, ‚Death lays his icy hands on kings”. Visesana vakrata referes to the adjective used to produce a particular effect, either in contrast or harmony. Milton uses ‚Blind mouths‛ for corrupt priests in the poem ‘Lycidas’. The expression ‘Cold Coffee’ in Pope’s poem is not cold in sense but a sign of boredom. Samvriti is a covert expression or innuendo. Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” serves as a good example here. Paryaya vakrata is related to synonymy. An example of this kind can be found in such words as ‘Mum and Dad’ in “greese to the elbows Mum and Dad enthuse” (A.D. Hope: The Brides) vritti vakrata is found in the compound words used to achieve the beauty of brevity and pedanticity . In Hopkins’ ‚The starlight Night‛ the stars are described as the fire-folk sitting in the air. Linga Vakrata is deviation in the use of gender. In the poem “The Brides” the poet, while satirizing modern man’s craze for automobiles, refers to them as brides. Kriya vakrata (relating to verb) occurs in the line “Parson with a prayer blesses the number –plate” (The Brides). Padapurvardha Vakrata is concerned with kala (time), karaka (case), Samkhya (number), purusa (person), upagraha (voice) and particles. Kala vakrata can be noticed when the past is described in the present to produce dramatic effect (Historic Present). “Loud sounds the Axe, redoubling strokes on strokes;
On all sides round the Forest hurdles her Oaks Headlong” (Pope: The Iliad) One can discern strikingness in a series of possessives used by Hopkins’ in “Our heart’s charity’s hearth’s fire, our thought’s chivalry’s throng’s Lord.”(The Wreck of the Deutschland). The other varieties of padapurvardha vakrata refer to the deviations in their terminals, which are aimed at producing a particular effect. Vakya vakrata occurs at the sentence level as in ‚Irks care the crop –full bird?‛ (Browning). Kuntaka says that this includes all ardhalankaras (tropes) like simile (My love is like a red, red rose), metaphor (The world is an unweeded garden) paradox, (Deep down he’s really shallow) and the like. The other two kinds of vakrata, unlike the above, are related to literary structure prakarana vakrata is a deviation from tradition in the choice of an incident of a literary work. Techniques like ‘garbhanka’ (a play within a play) in ‘Hamlet’ can be cited as the nearest example of structural deviance. Prabandha vakrata is concerned with the totality of the work in all its aspects. It is difficult to find a striking example of this kind in English Literature. (But see Nabokov’s Pale Fire) Kuntaka says that, apart from the six types, there may exist several kinds of vakrokti, depending on the creative genius of individual poets. Of all the critical approaches emerged in the west, stylistic approach comes close to Kuntaka’s vakrokti. Stylistics makes a systematic study of literary texts by using the tools of linguistics. Dr. Geoffrey Leech speaks of eight kinds of deviation in poetry. They are as follows: 1. Linguistic Deviation (neolgisms, affixation, compounding etc.,) a) Milton’s ‘Pandemonium’ , Shakespeare’s ‘Bare – faced’ b) ‘Out mosquito’ in “Am I not mosquito enough to Out–mosquito you?” (D.H. Lawrence: Mosquito) c) ‘Dapple – dawn –drawn Falcon (in The Wind hover) 2. Grammatical Deviation: a) Edible smells (Fanxy Howe : Not as Much) b) The dog it was that died (Oliver Goldsmith: An Elegy on the Death of a Mad dog). 3. Phonogical Deviation: a) Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? (Elision of the sound in the word ‘oft’) 4. Graphological Deviation: It lies in certain unusualness in the visual pattern of a poem.
The Red wheel barrow / so much depends / upon / a red wheel /barrow / glazed with rain / water/ beside the white / chickens. 5. Semantic Deviation: a) The sky grows dark with invitation -cards (Phillip Larkin: Wants). b) The child is the father of man (William Wordsworth). 6. Dialectal Deviation: (Mixing of other dialects with English) : The line from Robert Burns: “The best – laid schemes O’mice an ‘men gang aft a –gley.” Is identified as Scots because of words like gang(go) and a – gley (awry). 7. Deviation in Register (mixing of various registers in poetry): This is found in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”. 8. Historical Deviation: Here the language of the past is used in contemporary poetry. “No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red” (Shakespeare: Macbeth) According to Leech, the first five are main deviations and the last three, ancillary deviations. But the kinds of deviation stated by Leech do not go beyond the linguistic framework and touch upon extra-linguistic aspects like conceptual deviance. Conceptual deviance is more important than linguistic deviance. All great literature is the product of conceptual deviance. Moreover the conception or worldview of a writer gets reflected in the language. When Macbeth says, ‚Life’s a walking shadow, a poor player …..a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing”, One finds in him a different conception of life – meaninglessness. Shakespeare presents this notion through three different images: a walking shadow (an unusual collocation), a poor player and a tale told by an idiot. Here the idea and the diction get each reinforced by the other and this brings uniqueness to the passage. So mere formal grammatical framework is not enough to bring out all the aspects of a literary work. In contrast with the western notion of deviance, Kuntaka’s Vakrokti is quite comprehensive and systematic. The analytical framework established by him is concerned not only with the parts but also with the totality of a work of art.
Bibliography 1. De, S.K. 1992. ‘Kuntaka’s Theory of poetry: Vakrokti’ Ed. V.S.Seturaman Madras: MacMillan. 2. Pathak, R.S. 1985. ‘Vakrokti and the Language of Poetry’, Ed.M.S.Kushwaha Lucknow: Argo Publishing House. 3. Ramachandran, C.N. 1994. ‘Vakrokti in Application: An Examination’. Ed C.D. Narasimhaiah .New Delhi: Sahitya Academi. 4. Richards, I.A. ‘Pseudo Statements’. 5. Sastri, M.I.‚ ‘Style As Deviance’, Hyderabad CIEFL. 6. Suresh Kumar 1988.”Stylistics and Language Teaching”. Delhi : Kalinga Publications. 7. Venkata Subbaiah, V.1988.‚ “Vakrokti and Modes of poetic Deviation”. 8. Vijayavardhana .1970. ‚Outlines of Sanskrit poetics‛, Varanasi: Chowkamba Sanskrit Series office. 9. Widdowson, H.G. 1989. ‘Stylistics’, Contemporary Criticism Ed.V.S. Seturaman. Madras: Macmillan India Ltd.Abstract Kuntaka is known as the originator of the Vakrokti School of Sanskrit literary theory. Historically, he occupies a place between Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. Kuntaka lived at a period when literary criticism in India was acquiring a great sophistication. Among his contemporaries, his critical persuasions acquire a special significance. Vakrokti is a theory of poetry which perceives poetry essentially in terms of the language of its expression. He took vakrokti concept/ (term) from Bhahamaha and made it broader than him. He states that vakrokti is of six types. Vakrokti sees the poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. He developed his theory of vakrokti deriving inspiration from the dhvani theory. His theory helps greatly to practical criticism as an important aid. According to him the broadest principle which can do justice to all the categories of literary theory including dhvani is only vakrokti which might admit of innumerable varieties. Kuntanka‟s work on beauty of the poem is noteworthy. He widely described different types of figures of speech that are used in decorating the poem. He also highlights the uniqueness of the poet. When great poets compose different literary works based on an identical theme, they are each seen to possess infinite individual beauty, each of it possessing distinctiveness from the others. (Kuntaka, 1977) Introduction Vakrokti, emanating from the creative faculty of the poet endows poetic language with strikingness [Vaicitrya] and causes aesthetic delight to the reader. Etymologically, the word Vakrokti consists of two components – ‘vakra’ and ‘ukti’. The first component means “crooked, indirect or unique” and the second mean “poetic expression or speech”. It is manifested at six levels in language, viz. the phonetic level, [varṇavinyāsa], the lexical level [padapūrvārddha], the grammatical level [padaparārddha], the sentential level [vākya], the contextual level [prakaraṇa] and finally the compositional level [prabandha]. Kuntaka anticipates much of the modern stylistic approach to literature and his stylistics encompasses imaginative language at the micro and macro levels. The conscious choices made by the poet in the language are a fertile field of investigation in his approach. It is the considered view of Kuntaka that poetic language always deviates from hackneyed
expressions by its imaginative turns. Kuntaka avers that the stamp of originality of a great author will be present even in the title of the work of art. Vakrokti: The Theory of Language Kuntaka introduced the theory of Vakrokti in his well – known treatise Vakroktijivita. This theory appeared to counteract Anandavardhana’s theory of dhvani as it is also related with the suggestiveness of language. But it loses its claim because it is not as comprehensive as the theory of dhvani is. Vakroktijivitam means that vakrokti is the life of poetry where the term vakrokti denotes crooked speech or deviant language. Simply put, vakrokti represents that language which is strikingly different from its ordinary use. This theory of vakrokti, hence, perceives poetry essentially in terms of language of its expression. It considers poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. Sanskrit poetics and language starts from the base that includes sabda and artha. Neither sabda nor artha alone compose poetry. Poetry is not merely a linguistic entity, it is rather a beautiful expression. This beauty is generated by adding a specialty (visesh) to its language that may come from the artistic categories of words’ categories like – lakshana, alamkaraor guna. Lakshana represents the secondary meaning that is the word is used to signify something else. Alamkara studies literary language and assumes that the focus of literariness lies in the figures of speech, in the mode of figurative expression, in the grammatical accuracy and pleasantness of sound (euphony). This does not mean that meaning is ignored. Guna theory examines literary compositions in terms of qualities, both of form and meaning. The views expressed by Kuntaka seem to have echoes in the writings of certain western critics. Aristotle thinks that the difference between the ‘ordinary’ or ‘prose’ use of words and the ‘distinctive’ or ‘poetic’ use is inherent .Speaking of the oblique nature of poetry E.M.W. Tillyard says, “All poetry is more or less oblique: There is no direct poetry.” According to Paul Valery, the French symbolist, deviation of expression is a ‘mark of poetry.’ Here a deviant expression should not mean an ungrammatical one but an a normal expression. Poetry follows the norms of grammar but at the same time takes liberties with language. For example, the inversion of structure in the line “Bangle sellers are we..,” is not grammatically wrong but a stylistic device chosen by Sarojini Naidu to highlight the word ‘Bangle Sellers’. Rabindranath Tagore makes an interesting comment on the peculiar use of language in poetry: When we come to literature we find that though it conforms to rules of grammar it is yet a thing of joy; it is freedom itself. The beauty of a poem is bound by strict laws, yet it transcends them. One finds a striking parallel between the views of Kuntaka and those of John Mukarovsky, the Prague School linguist, regarding the notion of Vakrokti or deviance. Mukarovsky characterizes poetic language as an aesthetically purposeful distortion of standard language: and that the hallmark of literary language is foregrounding. When the normal language is not adequate enough to express a powerful emotion or when a particular Item / feature is to be foregrounded against the background of something, poets often distort the language to produce the intended effect. It is perhaps due to this reason that Roman
Jacabson, the Russian Formalist critic, rightly states that poetry is an “organised violence committed on ordinary speech”. Deviance is a common phenomenon in drama or poetry. As Mukarovsky says that poetry needs a purposeful distortion of language, one has to remember that the notion of deviance should not be unmotivated or casual. There should be a method even in poetic madness. So a deviant expression should be a motivated one and at the same time be backed up by the context. While motivated deviance gives rise to poetic delectation, unmotivated deviance like ‚The hill ate a mango‛, produces ludicrous effects. Having considered the views of both the Indian and the western critics as to the notion of Vakrokti or deviance in poetry, it is worthwhile to know how ‘vakrokti’ occurs in poetry. Kuntaka classifies ‘vakrokti’ into six categories: 1. Varna vinyasa vakrata 2. pada purvardha vakrata 3. pada parardha vakrata or pratyaya vakrata 4. vakya vakrata 5. prakarana vakrata 6. prabandha vakrata. Varnavinyasa vakrata shows itself in the arrangement of sounds. All Sabdalankaras (schemes) like alliteration “Love laughs at locksmiths”(Shakespeare), assonance “Break, break, break/On thy cold grey stones, O sea” (Tennyson) are examples of this kind of vakrokti. Padapuvardha vakrata is deviation in the choice of lexical items. This includes Rudhi, Upachara, Viseshana, Samvriti, paryaya, vritti, linga and kriya. Rudhivaicitrya vakrata refers to a nominal item used to express the association of ideas and emotional overtones of the item. For example, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”. Upacara Vakrata (upacara means transfer) indicates fancied correspondence between two objects through the use of particular words. For example, ‚Death lays his icy hands on kings”. Visesana vakrata referes to the adjective used to produce a particular effect, either in contrast or harmony. Milton uses ‚Blind mouths‛ for corrupt priests in the poem ‘Lycidas’. The expression ‘Cold Coffee’ in Pope’s poem is not cold in sense but a sign of boredom. Samvriti is a covert expression or innuendo. Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” serves as a good example here. Paryaya vakrata is related to synonymy. An example of this kind can be found in such words as ‘Mum and Dad’ in “greese to the elbows Mum and Dad enthuse” (A.D. Hope: The Brides) vritti vakrata is found in the compound words used to achieve the beauty of brevity and pedanticity . In Hopkins’ ‚The starlight Night‛ the stars are described as the fire-folk sitting in the air. Linga Vakrata is deviation in the use of gender. In the poem “The Brides” the poet, while satirizing modern man’s craze for automobiles, refers to them as brides. Kriya vakrata (relating to verb) occurs in the line “Parson with a prayer blesses the number –plate” (The Brides). Padapurvardha Vakrata is concerned with kala (time), karaka (case), Samkhya (number), purusa (person), upagraha (voice) and particles. Kala vakrata can be noticed when the past is described in the present to produce dramatic effect (Historic Present). “Loud sounds the Axe, redoubling strokes on strokes;
On all sides round the Forest hurdles her Oaks Headlong” (Pope: The Iliad) One can discern strikingness in a series of possessives used by Hopkins’ in “Our heart’s charity’s hearth’s fire, our thought’s chivalry’s throng’s Lord.”(The Wreck of the Deutschland). The other varieties of padapurvardha vakrata refer to the deviations in their terminals, which are aimed at producing a particular effect. Vakya vakrata occurs at the sentence level as in ‚Irks care the crop –full bird?‛ (Browning). Kuntaka says that this includes all ardhalankaras (tropes) like simile (My love is like a red, red rose), metaphor (The world is an unweeded garden) paradox, (Deep down he’s really shallow) and the like. The other two kinds of vakrata, unlike the above, are related to literary structure prakarana vakrata is a deviation from tradition in the choice of an incident of a literary work. Techniques like ‘garbhanka’ (a play within a play) in ‘Hamlet’ can be cited as the nearest example of structural deviance. Prabandha vakrata is concerned with the totality of the work in all its aspects. It is difficult to find a striking example of this kind in English Literature. (But see Nabokov’s Pale Fire) Kuntaka says that, apart from the six types, there may exist several kinds of vakrokti, depending on the creative genius of individual poets. Of all the critical approaches emerged in the west, stylistic approach comes close to Kuntaka’s vakrokti. Stylistics makes a systematic study of literary texts by using the tools of linguistics. Dr. Geoffrey Leech speaks of eight kinds of deviation in poetry. They are as follows: 1. Linguistic Deviation (neolgisms, affixation, compounding etc.,) a) Milton’s ‘Pandemonium’ , Shakespeare’s ‘Bare – faced’ b) ‘Out mosquito’ in “Am I not mosquito enough to Out–mosquito you?” (D.H. Lawrence: Mosquito) c) ‘Dapple – dawn –drawn Falcon (in The Wind hover) 2. Grammatical Deviation: a) Edible smells (Fanxy Howe : Not as Much) b) The dog it was that died (Oliver Goldsmith: An Elegy on the Death of a Mad dog). 3. Phonogical Deviation: a) Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? (Elision of the sound in the word ‘oft’) 4. Graphological Deviation: It lies in certain unusualness in the visual pattern of a poem.
The Red wheel barrow / so much depends / upon / a red wheel /barrow / glazed with rain / water/ beside the white / chickens. 5. Semantic Deviation: a) The sky grows dark with invitation -cards (Phillip Larkin: Wants). b) The child is the father of man (William Wordsworth). 6. Dialectal Deviation: (Mixing of other dialects with English) : The line from Robert Burns: “The best – laid schemes O’mice an ‘men gang aft a –gley.” Is identified as Scots because of words like gang(go) and a – gley (awry). 7. Deviation in Register (mixing of various registers in poetry): This is found in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”. 8. Historical Deviation: Here the language of the past is used in contemporary poetry. “No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red” (Shakespeare: Macbeth) According to Leech, the first five are main deviations and the last three, ancillary deviations. But the kinds of deviation stated by Leech do not go beyond the linguistic framework and touch upon extra-linguistic aspects like conceptual deviance. Conceptual deviance is more important than linguistic deviance. All great literature is the product of conceptual deviance. Moreover the conception or worldview of a writer gets reflected in the language. When Macbeth says, ‚Life’s a walking shadow, a poor player …..a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing”, One finds in him a different conception of life – meaninglessness. Shakespeare presents this notion through three different images: a walking shadow (an unusual collocation), a poor player and a tale told by an idiot. Here the idea and the diction get each reinforced by the other and this brings uniqueness to the passage. So mere formal grammatical framework is not enough to bring out all the aspects of a literary work. In contrast with the western notion of deviance, Kuntaka’s Vakrokti is quite comprehensive and systematic. The analytical framework established by him is concerned not only with the parts but also with the totality of a work of art.
Bibliography 1. De, S.K. 1992. ‘Kuntaka’s Theory of poetry: Vakrokti’ Ed. V.S.Seturaman Madras: MacMillan. 2. Pathak, R.S. 1985. ‘Vakrokti and the Language of Poetry’, Ed.M.S.Kushwaha Lucknow: Argo Publishing House. 3. Ramachandran, C.N. 1994. ‘Vakrokti in Application: An Examination’. Ed C.D. Narasimhaiah .New Delhi: Sahitya Academi. 4. Richards, I.A. ‘Pseudo Statements’. 5. Sastri, M.I.‚ ‘Style As Deviance’, Hyderabad CIEFL. 6. Suresh Kumar 1988.”Stylistics and Language Teaching”. Delhi : Kalinga Publications. 7. Venkata Subbaiah, V.1988.‚ “Vakrokti and Modes of poetic Deviation”. 8. Vijayavardhana .1970. ‚Outlines of Sanskrit poetics‛, Varanasi: Chowkamba Sanskrit Series office. 9. Widdowson, H.G. 1989. ‘Stylistics’, Contemporary Criticism Ed.V.S. Seturaman. Madras: Macmillan India Ltd.Abstract Kuntaka is known as the originator of the Vakrokti School of Sanskrit literary theory. Historically, he occupies a place between Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. Kuntaka lived at a period when literary criticism in India was acquiring a great sophistication. Among his contemporaries, his critical persuasions acquire a special significance. Vakrokti is a theory of poetry which perceives poetry essentially in terms of the language of its expression. He took vakrokti concept/ (term) from Bhahamaha and made it broader than him. He states that vakrokti is of six types. Vakrokti sees the poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. He developed his theory of vakrokti deriving inspiration from the dhvani theory. His theory helps greatly to practical criticism as an important aid. According to him the broadest principle which can do justice to all the categories of literary theory including dhvani is only vakrokti which might admit of innumerable varieties. Kuntanka‟s work on beauty of the poem is noteworthy. He widely described different types of figures of speech that are used in decorating the poem. He also highlights the uniqueness of the poet. When great poets compose different literary works based on an identical theme, they are each seen to possess infinite individual beauty, each of it possessing distinctiveness from the others. (Kuntaka, 1977) Introduction Vakrokti, emanating from the creative faculty of the poet endows poetic language with strikingness [Vaicitrya] and causes aesthetic delight to the reader. Etymologically, the word Vakrokti consists of two components – ‘vakra’ and ‘ukti’. The first component means “crooked, indirect or unique” and the second mean “poetic expression or speech”. It is manifested at six levels in language, viz. the phonetic level, [varṇavinyāsa], the lexical level [padapūrvārddha], the grammatical level [padaparārddha], the sentential level [vākya], the contextual level [prakaraṇa] and finally the compositional level [prabandha]. Kuntaka anticipates much of the modern stylistic approach to literature and his stylistics encompasses imaginative language at the micro and macro levels. The conscious choices made by the poet in the language are a fertile field of investigation in his approach. It is the considered view of Kuntaka that poetic language always deviates from hackneyed
expressions by its imaginative turns. Kuntaka avers that the stamp of originality of a great author will be present even in the title of the work of art. Vakrokti: The Theory of Language Kuntaka introduced the theory of Vakrokti in his well – known treatise Vakroktijivita. This theory appeared to counteract Anandavardhana’s theory of dhvani as it is also related with the suggestiveness of language. But it loses its claim because it is not as comprehensive as the theory of dhvani is. Vakroktijivitam means that vakrokti is the life of poetry where the term vakrokti denotes crooked speech or deviant language. Simply put, vakrokti represents that language which is strikingly different from its ordinary use. This theory of vakrokti, hence, perceives poetry essentially in terms of language of its expression. It considers poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. Sanskrit poetics and language starts from the base that includes sabda and artha. Neither sabda nor artha alone compose poetry. Poetry is not merely a linguistic entity, it is rather a beautiful expression. This beauty is generated by adding a specialty (visesh) to its language that may come from the artistic categories of words’ categories like – lakshana, alamkaraor guna. Lakshana represents the secondary meaning that is the word is used to signify something else. Alamkara studies literary language and assumes that the focus of literariness lies in the figures of speech, in the mode of figurative expression, in the grammatical accuracy and pleasantness of sound (euphony). This does not mean that meaning is ignored. Guna theory examines literary compositions in terms of qualities, both of form and meaning. The views expressed by Kuntaka seem to have echoes in the writings of certain western critics. Aristotle thinks that the difference between the ‘ordinary’ or ‘prose’ use of words and the ‘distinctive’ or ‘poetic’ use is inherent .Speaking of the oblique nature of poetry E.M.W. Tillyard says, “All poetry is more or less oblique: There is no direct poetry.” According to Paul Valery, the French symbolist, deviation of expression is a ‘mark of poetry.’ Here a deviant expression should not mean an ungrammatical one but an a normal expression. Poetry follows the norms of grammar but at the same time takes liberties with language. For example, the inversion of structure in the line “Bangle sellers are we..,” is not grammatically wrong but a stylistic device chosen by Sarojini Naidu to highlight the word ‘Bangle Sellers’. Rabindranath Tagore makes an interesting comment on the peculiar use of language in poetry: When we come to literature we find that though it conforms to rules of grammar it is yet a thing of joy; it is freedom itself. The beauty of a poem is bound by strict laws, yet it transcends them. One finds a striking parallel between the views of Kuntaka and those of John Mukarovsky, the Prague School linguist, regarding the notion of Vakrokti or deviance. Mukarovsky characterizes poetic language as an aesthetically purposeful distortion of standard language: and that the hallmark of literary language is foregrounding. When the normal language is not adequate enough to express a powerful emotion or when a particular Item / feature is to be foregrounded against the background of something, poets often distort the language to produce the intended effect. It is perhaps due to this reason that Roman
Jacabson, the Russian Formalist critic, rightly states that poetry is an “organised violence committed on ordinary speech”. Deviance is a common phenomenon in drama or poetry. As Mukarovsky says that poetry needs a purposeful distortion of language, one has to remember that the notion of deviance should not be unmotivated or casual. There should be a method even in poetic madness. So a deviant expression should be a motivated one and at the same time be backed up by the context. While motivated deviance gives rise to poetic delectation, unmotivated deviance like ‚The hill ate a mango‛, produces ludicrous effects. Having considered the views of both the Indian and the western critics as to the notion of Vakrokti or deviance in poetry, it is worthwhile to know how ‘vakrokti’ occurs in poetry. Kuntaka classifies ‘vakrokti’ into six categories: 1. Varna vinyasa vakrata 2. pada purvardha vakrata 3. pada parardha vakrata or pratyaya vakrata 4. vakya vakrata 5. prakarana vakrata 6. prabandha vakrata. Varnavinyasa vakrata shows itself in the arrangement of sounds. All Sabdalankaras (schemes) like alliteration “Love laughs at locksmiths”(Shakespeare), assonance “Break, break, break/On thy cold grey stones, O sea” (Tennyson) are examples of this kind of vakrokti. Padapuvardha vakrata is deviation in the choice of lexical items. This includes Rudhi, Upachara, Viseshana, Samvriti, paryaya, vritti, linga and kriya. Rudhivaicitrya vakrata refers to a nominal item used to express the association of ideas and emotional overtones of the item. For example, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”. Upacara Vakrata (upacara means transfer) indicates fancied correspondence between two objects through the use of particular words. For example, ‚Death lays his icy hands on kings”. Visesana vakrata referes to the adjective used to produce a particular effect, either in contrast or harmony. Milton uses ‚Blind mouths‛ for corrupt priests in the poem ‘Lycidas’. The expression ‘Cold Coffee’ in Pope’s poem is not cold in sense but a sign of boredom. Samvriti is a covert expression or innuendo. Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” serves as a good example here. Paryaya vakrata is related to synonymy. An example of this kind can be found in such words as ‘Mum and Dad’ in “greese to the elbows Mum and Dad enthuse” (A.D. Hope: The Brides) vritti vakrata is found in the compound words used to achieve the beauty of brevity and pedanticity . In Hopkins’ ‚The starlight Night‛ the stars are described as the fire-folk sitting in the air. Linga Vakrata is deviation in the use of gender. In the poem “The Brides” the poet, while satirizing modern man’s craze for automobiles, refers to them as brides. Kriya vakrata (relating to verb) occurs in the line “Parson with a prayer blesses the number –plate” (The Brides). Padapurvardha Vakrata is concerned with kala (time), karaka (case), Samkhya (number), purusa (person), upagraha (voice) and particles. Kala vakrata can be noticed when the past is described in the present to produce dramatic effect (Historic Present). “Loud sounds the Axe, redoubling strokes on strokes;
On all sides round the Forest hurdles her Oaks Headlong” (Pope: The Iliad) One can discern strikingness in a series of possessives used by Hopkins’ in “Our heart’s charity’s hearth’s fire, our thought’s chivalry’s throng’s Lord.”(The Wreck of the Deutschland). The other varieties of padapurvardha vakrata refer to the deviations in their terminals, which are aimed at producing a particular effect. Vakya vakrata occurs at the sentence level as in ‚Irks care the crop –full bird?‛ (Browning). Kuntaka says that this includes all ardhalankaras (tropes) like simile (My love is like a red, red rose), metaphor (The world is an unweeded garden) paradox, (Deep down he’s really shallow) and the like. The other two kinds of vakrata, unlike the above, are related to literary structure prakarana vakrata is a deviation from tradition in the choice of an incident of a literary work. Techniques like ‘garbhanka’ (a play within a play) in ‘Hamlet’ can be cited as the nearest example of structural deviance. Prabandha vakrata is concerned with the totality of the work in all its aspects. It is difficult to find a striking example of this kind in English Literature. (But see Nabokov’s Pale Fire) Kuntaka says that, apart from the six types, there may exist several kinds of vakrokti, depending on the creative genius of individual poets. Of all the critical approaches emerged in the west, stylistic approach comes close to Kuntaka’s vakrokti. Stylistics makes a systematic study of literary texts by using the tools of linguistics. Dr. Geoffrey Leech speaks of eight kinds of deviation in poetry. They are as follows: 1. Linguistic Deviation (neolgisms, affixation, compounding etc.,) a) Milton’s ‘Pandemonium’ , Shakespeare’s ‘Bare – faced’ b) ‘Out mosquito’ in “Am I not mosquito enough to Out–mosquito you?” (D.H. Lawrence: Mosquito) c) ‘Dapple – dawn –drawn Falcon (in The Wind hover) 2. Grammatical Deviation: a) Edible smells (Fanxy Howe : Not as Much) b) The dog it was that died (Oliver Goldsmith: An Elegy on the Death of a Mad dog). 3. Phonogical Deviation: a) Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? (Elision of the sound in the word ‘oft’) 4. Graphological Deviation: It lies in certain unusualness in the visual pattern of a poem.
The Red wheel barrow / so much depends / upon / a red wheel /barrow / glazed with rain / water/ beside the white / chickens. 5. Semantic Deviation: a) The sky grows dark with invitation -cards (Phillip Larkin: Wants). b) The child is the father of man (William Wordsworth). 6. Dialectal Deviation: (Mixing of other dialects with English) : The line from Robert Burns: “The best – laid schemes O’mice an ‘men gang aft a –gley.” Is identified as Scots because of words like gang(go) and a – gley (awry). 7. Deviation in Register (mixing of various registers in poetry): This is found in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”. 8. Historical Deviation: Here the language of the past is used in contemporary poetry. “No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red” (Shakespeare: Macbeth) According to Leech, the first five are main deviations and the last three, ancillary deviations. But the kinds of deviation stated by Leech do not go beyond the linguistic framework and touch upon extra-linguistic aspects like conceptual deviance. Conceptual deviance is more important than linguistic deviance. All great literature is the product of conceptual deviance. Moreover the conception or worldview of a writer gets reflected in the language. When Macbeth says, ‚Life’s a walking shadow, a poor player …..a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing”, One finds in him a different conception of life – meaninglessness. Shakespeare presents this notion through three different images: a walking shadow (an unusual collocation), a poor player and a tale told by an idiot. Here the idea and the diction get each reinforced by the other and this brings uniqueness to the passage. So mere formal grammatical framework is not enough to bring out all the aspects of a literary work. In contrast with the western notion of deviance, Kuntaka’s Vakrokti is quite comprehensive and systematic. The analytical framework established by him is concerned not only with the parts but also with the totality of a work of art.
Bibliography 1. De, S.K. 1992. ‘Kuntaka’s Theory of poetry: Vakrokti’ Ed. V.S.Seturaman Madras: MacMillan. 2. Pathak, R.S. 1985. ‘Vakrokti and the Language of Poetry’, Ed.M.S.Kushwaha Lucknow: Argo Publishing House. 3. Ramachandran, C.N. 1994. ‘Vakrokti in Application: An Examination’. Ed C.D. Narasimhaiah .New Delhi: Sahitya Academi. 4. Richards, I.A. ‘Pseudo Statements’. 5. Sastri, M.I.‚ ‘Style As Deviance’, Hyderabad CIEFL. 6. Suresh Kumar 1988.”Stylistics and Language Teaching”. Delhi : Kalinga Publications. 7. Venkata Subbaiah, V.1988.‚ “Vakrokti and Modes of poetic Deviation”. 8. Vijayavardhana .1970. ‚Outlines of Sanskrit poetics‛, Varanasi: Chowkamba Sanskrit Series office. 9. Widdowson, H.G. 1989. ‘Stylistics’, Contemporary Criticism Ed.V.S. Seturaman. Madras: Macmillan India Ltd.Abstract Kuntaka is known as the originator of the Vakrokti School of Sanskrit literary theory. Historically, he occupies a place between Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. Kuntaka lived at a period when literary criticism in India was acquiring a great sophistication. Among his contemporaries, his critical persuasions acquire a special significance. Vakrokti is a theory of poetry which perceives poetry essentially in terms of the language of its expression. He took vakrokti concept/ (term) from Bhahamaha and made it broader than him. He states that vakrokti is of six types. Vakrokti sees the poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. He developed his theory of vakrokti deriving inspiration from the dhvani theory. His theory helps greatly to practical criticism as an important aid. According to him the broadest principle which can do justice to all the categories of literary theory including dhvani is only vakrokti which might admit of innumerable varieties. Kuntanka‟s work on beauty of the poem is noteworthy. He widely described different types of figures of speech that are used in decorating the poem. He also highlights the uniqueness of the poet. When great poets compose different literary works based on an identical theme, they are each seen to possess infinite individual beauty, each of it possessing distinctiveness from the others. (Kuntaka, 1977) Introduction Vakrokti, emanating from the creative faculty of the poet endows poetic language with strikingness [Vaicitrya] and causes aesthetic delight to the reader. Etymologically, the word Vakrokti consists of two components – ‘vakra’ and ‘ukti’. The first component means “crooked, indirect or unique” and the second mean “poetic expression or speech”. It is manifested at six levels in language, viz. the phonetic level, [varṇavinyāsa], the lexical level [padapūrvārddha], the grammatical level [padaparārddha], the sentential level [vākya], the contextual level [prakaraṇa] and finally the compositional level [prabandha]. Kuntaka anticipates much of the modern stylistic approach to literature and his stylistics encompasses imaginative language at the micro and macro levels. The conscious choices made by the poet in the language are a fertile field of investigation in his approach. It is the considered view of Kuntaka that poetic language always deviates from hackneyed
expressions by its imaginative turns. Kuntaka avers that the stamp of originality of a great author will be present even in the title of the work of art. Vakrokti: The Theory of Language Kuntaka introduced the theory of Vakrokti in his well – known treatise Vakroktijivita. This theory appeared to counteract Anandavardhana’s theory of dhvani as it is also related with the suggestiveness of language. But it loses its claim because it is not as comprehensive as the theory of dhvani is. Vakroktijivitam means that vakrokti is the life of poetry where the term vakrokti denotes crooked speech or deviant language. Simply put, vakrokti represents that language which is strikingly different from its ordinary use. This theory of vakrokti, hence, perceives poetry essentially in terms of language of its expression. It considers poetic language as language of metaphor and suggestive communication. Sanskrit poetics and language starts from the base that includes sabda and artha. Neither sabda nor artha alone compose poetry. Poetry is not merely a linguistic entity, it is rather a beautiful expression. This beauty is generated by adding a specialty (visesh) to its language that may come from the artistic categories of words’ categories like – lakshana, alamkaraor guna. Lakshana represents the secondary meaning that is the word is used to signify something else. Alamkara studies literary language and assumes that the focus of literariness lies in the figures of speech, in the mode of figurative expression, in the grammatical accuracy and pleasantness of sound (euphony). This does not mean that meaning is ignored. Guna theory examines literary compositions in terms of qualities, both of form and meaning. The views expressed by Kuntaka seem to have echoes in the writings of certain western critics. Aristotle thinks that the difference between the ‘ordinary’ or ‘prose’ use of words and the ‘distinctive’ or ‘poetic’ use is inherent .Speaking of the oblique nature of poetry E.M.W. Tillyard says, “All poetry is more or less oblique: There is no direct poetry.” According to Paul Valery, the French symbolist, deviation of expression is a ‘mark of poetry.’ Here a deviant expression should not mean an ungrammatical one but an a normal expression. Poetry follows the norms of grammar but at the same time takes liberties with language. For example, the inversion of structure in the line “Bangle sellers are we..,” is not grammatically wrong but a stylistic device chosen by Sarojini Naidu to highlight the word ‘Bangle Sellers’. Rabindranath Tagore makes an interesting comment on the peculiar use of language in poetry: When we come to literature we find that though it conforms to rules of grammar it is yet a thing of joy; it is freedom itself. The beauty of a poem is bound by strict laws, yet it transcends them. One finds a striking parallel between the views of Kuntaka and those of John Mukarovsky, the Prague School linguist, regarding the notion of Vakrokti or deviance. Mukarovsky characterizes poetic language as an aesthetically purposeful distortion of standard language: and that the hallmark of literary language is foregrounding. When the normal language is not adequate enough to express a powerful emotion or when a particular Item / feature is to be foregrounded against the background of something, poets often distort the language to produce the intended effect. It is perhaps due to this reason that Roman
Jacabson, the Russian Formalist critic, rightly states that poetry is an “organised violence committed on ordinary speech”. Deviance is a common phenomenon in drama or poetry. As Mukarovsky says that poetry needs a purposeful distortion of language, one has to remember that the notion of deviance should not be unmotivated or casual. There should be a method even in poetic madness. So a deviant expression should be a motivated one and at the same time be backed up by the context. While motivated deviance gives rise to poetic delectation, unmotivated deviance like ‚The hill ate a mango‛, produces ludicrous effects. Having considered the views of both the Indian and the western critics as to the notion of Vakrokti or deviance in poetry, it is worthwhile to know how ‘vakrokti’ occurs in poetry. Kuntaka classifies ‘vakrokti’ into six categories: 1. Varna vinyasa vakrata 2. pada purvardha vakrata 3. pada parardha vakrata or pratyaya vakrata 4. vakya vakrata 5. prakarana vakrata 6. prabandha vakrata. Varnavinyasa vakrata shows itself in the arrangement of sounds. All Sabdalankaras (schemes) like alliteration “Love laughs at locksmiths”(Shakespeare), assonance “Break, break, break/On thy cold grey stones, O sea” (Tennyson) are examples of this kind of vakrokti. Padapuvardha vakrata is deviation in the choice of lexical items. This includes Rudhi, Upachara, Viseshana, Samvriti, paryaya, vritti, linga and kriya. Rudhivaicitrya vakrata refers to a nominal item used to express the association of ideas and emotional overtones of the item. For example, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”. Upacara Vakrata (upacara means transfer) indicates fancied correspondence between two objects through the use of particular words. For example, ‚Death lays his icy hands on kings”. Visesana vakrata referes to the adjective used to produce a particular effect, either in contrast or harmony. Milton uses ‚Blind mouths‛ for corrupt priests in the poem ‘Lycidas’. The expression ‘Cold Coffee’ in Pope’s poem is not cold in sense but a sign of boredom. Samvriti is a covert expression or innuendo. Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” serves as a good example here. Paryaya vakrata is related to synonymy. An example of this kind can be found in such words as ‘Mum and Dad’ in “greese to the elbows Mum and Dad enthuse” (A.D. Hope: The Brides) vritti vakrata is found in the compound words used to achieve the beauty of brevity and pedanticity . In Hopkins’ ‚The starlight Night‛ the stars are described as the fire-folk sitting in the air. Linga Vakrata is deviation in the use of gender. In the poem “The Brides” the poet, while satirizing modern man’s craze for automobiles, refers to them as brides. Kriya vakrata (relating to verb) occurs in the line “Parson with a prayer blesses the number –plate” (The Brides). Padapurvardha Vakrata is concerned with kala (time), karaka (case), Samkhya (number), purusa (person), upagraha (voice) and particles. Kala vakrata can be noticed when the past is described in the present to produce dramatic effect (Historic Present). “Loud sounds the Axe, redoubling strokes on strokes;
On all sides round the Forest hurdles her Oaks Headlong” (Pope: The Iliad) One can discern strikingness in a series of possessives used by Hopkins’ in “Our heart’s charity’s hearth’s fire, our thought’s chivalry’s throng’s Lord.”(The Wreck of the Deutschland). The other varieties of padapurvardha vakrata refer to the deviations in their terminals, which are aimed at producing a particular effect. Vakya vakrata occurs at the sentence level as in ‚Irks care the crop –full bird?‛ (Browning). Kuntaka says that this includes all ardhalankaras (tropes) like simile (My love is like a red, red rose), metaphor (The world is an unweeded garden) paradox, (Deep down he’s really shallow) and the like. The other two kinds of vakrata, unlike the above, are related to literary structure prakarana vakrata is a deviation from tradition in the choice of an incident of a literary work. Techniques like ‘garbhanka’ (a play within a play) in ‘Hamlet’ can be cited as the nearest example of structural deviance. Prabandha vakrata is concerned with the totality of the work in all its aspects. It is difficult to find a striking example of this kind in English Literature. (But see Nabokov’s Pale Fire) Kuntaka says that, apart from the six types, there may exist several kinds of vakrokti, depending on the creative genius of individual poets. Of all the critical approaches emerged in the west, stylistic approach comes close to Kuntaka’s vakrokti. Stylistics makes a systematic study of literary texts by using the tools of linguistics. Dr. Geoffrey Leech speaks of eight kinds of deviation in poetry. They are as follows: 1. Linguistic Deviation (neolgisms, affixation, compounding etc.,) a) Milton’s ‘Pandemonium’ , Shakespeare’s ‘Bare – faced’ b) ‘Out mosquito’ in “Am I not mosquito enough to Out–mosquito you?” (D.H. Lawrence: Mosquito) c) ‘Dapple – dawn –drawn Falcon (in The Wind hover) 2. Grammatical Deviation: a) Edible smells (Fanxy Howe : Not as Much) b) The dog it was that died (Oliver Goldsmith: An Elegy on the Death of a Mad dog). 3. Phonogical Deviation: a) Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? (Elision of the sound in the word ‘oft’) 4. Graphological Deviation: It lies in certain unusualness in the visual pattern of a poem.
The Red wheel barrow / so much depends / upon / a red wheel /barrow / glazed with rain / water/ beside the white / chickens. 5. Semantic Deviation: a) The sky grows dark with invitation -cards (Phillip Larkin: Wants). b) The child is the father of man (William Wordsworth). 6. Dialectal Deviation: (Mixing of other dialects with English) : The line from Robert Burns: “The best – laid schemes O’mice an ‘men gang aft a –gley.” Is identified as Scots because of words like gang(go) and a – gley (awry). 7. Deviation in Register (mixing of various registers in poetry): This is found in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”. 8. Historical Deviation: Here the language of the past is used in contemporary poetry. “No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red” (Shakespeare: Macbeth) According to Leech, the first five are main deviations and the last three, ancillary deviations. But the kinds of deviation stated by Leech do not go beyond the linguistic framework and touch upon extra-linguistic aspects like conceptual deviance. Conceptual deviance is more important than linguistic deviance. All great literature is the product of conceptual deviance. Moreover the conception or worldview of a writer gets reflected in the language. When Macbeth says, ‚Life’s a walking shadow, a poor player …..a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing”, One finds in him a different conception of life – meaninglessness. Shakespeare presents this notion through three different images: a walking shadow (an unusual collocation), a poor player and a tale told by an idiot. Here the idea and the diction get each reinforced by the other and this brings uniqueness to the passage. So mere formal grammatical framework is not enough to bring out all the aspects of a literary work. In contrast with the western notion of deviance, Kuntaka’s Vakrokti is quite comprehensive and systematic. The analytical framework established by him is concerned not only with the parts but also with the totality of a work of art.
Bibliography
1. De, S.K. 1992. ‘Kuntaka’s Theory of poetry: Vakrokti’ Ed. V.S.Seturaman Madras: MacMillan.
2. Pathak, R.S. 1985. ‘Vakrokti and the Language of Poetry’, Ed.M.S.Kushwaha Lucknow: Argo Publishing House.
3. Ramachandran, C.N. 1994. ‘Vakrokti in Application: An Examination’. Ed C.D. Narasimhaiah .New Delhi: Sahitya Academi.
4. Richards, I.A. ‘Pseudo Statements’.
5. Sastri, M.I.‚ ‘Style As Deviance’, Hyderabad CIEFL.
6. Suresh Kumar 1988.”Stylistics and Language Teaching”. Delhi : Kalinga Publications.
7. Venkata Subbaiah, V.1988.‚ “Vakrokti and Modes of poetic Deviation”.
8. Vijayavardhana .1970. ‚Outlines of Sanskrit poetics‛, Varanasi: Chowkamba Sanskrit Series office.
9. Widdowson, H.G. 1989. ‘Stylistics’, Contemporary Criticism Ed.V.S. Seturaman. Madras: Macmillan India Ltd.
