Alankar School of Classical Indian literary theory
In the beginning 'Alankara' was a generic term for ordinary figures of speech and of sound. Then by the time of Dandin, the term acquired a more excessive meaning. Alankara designated any factor that produced poetic beauty. Vamana used the term synonymous with entire beauty in poetry.
The adherents of the alankara school thought of poetry as having a body which required a dornment. Bhamaha was the first exponent of the Alankara School. Bharata declared only four alankar. Bhamaha recorded 38 alankaras, Dandi mentioned only 36 alankaras, Udbhat raised their number upto 41. Vaman described only 33 alankaras, Rutrata mentioned 5 Sabd-alankara and 50 arth-alankara.
Bhoja declared 24 Sabd-alankara and 24 arth-alankara. Mammata mentioned 8 Sabd-alankara and 62 arth-alankara, Ruyyak reckoned 10 sabd-alankara and 75 arth-alankara, Vagbhata limited the number of alankaras and accepted only four sabd-alankara and 35 arth-alankara.
Hemchandra restricted their number upto 35-36 sabd-alankara and 29 arth- alankars, Jayadeva declared 8 sabd-alankara and 82 arth-alankara. Visvanath mentioned 10 alankara. Appayya Dikshita declared 125 alankara's and Jagannath mentioned only 70 alankara.
