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, alamkara or 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.
As explained by Abhinavgupta, vakrokti implies an heightened form of expression that possesses certain imaginative attributes constituting the poetic figure and thus is markedly different from the everyday speech. Hence all poetic expressions involve some kind of deviant expression which integrates with the poetic charm. Nevertheless, for Kuntaka, mere word, no doubt how charming it is, will not convey the pre – requisite idea if it fails to strike harmony with the poetic composition. In lack of such a striking word, the idea will become dead or diseased. A dead idea is an idea insufficiently expressed and a diseased idea expresses something else than intended. Therefore, he recognized the significance of poetic imagination in poetic creation and hence propounded the theory of vakrokti on a sound aesthetic background of sabda and artha. On the question of how this deviance is achieved, Kuntaka enumerates six constituents of vakrokti in the whole composition. These constituents are:
· Varna Vinyasa Vakrata: It is the deviation in the arrangement of letters.
· Pada Purvardha: It is the deviation in the substantive parts of the word.
·Pada Parardha: It represents deviation in the terminal parts of the word.
· Vakya Vakrata: It is the syntactic deviation.
· Prakarana Vakrata: It is deviation from conception of an incident to its presentation.
· Prabandha Vakrata: It is the deviation in the construction of the whole plot.
