Literary Creation: Insights from Sanskrit Literary Critics

Abstract

All aspects of literary creation, from creation to expression, have been recorded with perceptive insights and in minute detail by the renowned Sanskrit literary critics. The main topics dealt with by these critics are: the definition and classification of literary creation, viz., poetry, prose, drama etc; the figures of speech (alamkaras), the sentiments (rasas), literary merits and defects (gunas and doshas), style (ritis), and purpose (prayojana). They discuss important ingredients of literary creation such as creative talent (pratibha), erudition (vyutpatti) and practice (abhyasa), the problem of coincidence (samvada), inexhaustible resources, etc. A great literary creation is one that has great imageries, natural descriptions, exquisite miniatures, precious maxims and keen observations of men and matter, besides revealing deep understanding of human character. It exhibits precise phrasing, proportion and restraint, delicacy, sensitiveness, and above all, a profound suggestiveness. Sanskrit literary critics’ views on the relative importance of word and sense in literary creation, their concept of poetry which has spontaneous expression of a deeply felt emotion as its essence, their appeal to make new literary creation, their views on what is essential for literary creation-all these are very valuable contributions towards literary creation. The main purpose of this paper is to help budding literary creators in any language irrespective of time and place by providing new insights.