Dhvanyāloka
Out of Ānandavardhana’s many creations, Dhvanyāloka is the one where he substantiated his theory of Dhvani. This book is divided into four chapters. These chapters are called uddyota. This entire text is composed in the kārikā-vṛtti-udāharaṇa style. Ānandavardhana’s contribution to Sanskrit poetics focused on a different side of creation; the meaning that is manifested in poetry, but not expressed there explicitly by the words. It is termed Dhvani and claimed to be the soul of the poetry by Ānandavardhana . While establishing dhvani, Ānandavardhana propounded a new śabda-śakti (power or function of the word) vyañjanā (suggestive power) besides abhidhā (denotative) and lakṣanā (implicative).
Even though Ānandavardhana is considered as the founder of Dhvani school, he himself stated that there were various Dhvani scholars before him . Ānandavardhana claimed that Bharata , Bhāmaha and Vāmana also indicated Dhvani implicitly. He stated that not only alañkārikas but poets such as Vālmīki, Vyāsa, Kālidāsa and others acknowledged the existence of Dhvani and it can be seen everywhere in their respective compositions . However, he explicitly said that he got the inspiration for Dhvani from grammarians . Grammarians accept those words as Dhvani which express sphoṭa. However, Dhvani theorists accept the combination of words and their meaning as Dhvani which expresses suggestive meaning.
Even though Ānandavardhana is considered as the founder of Dhvani school, he himself stated that there were various Dhvani scholars before him . Ānandavardhana claimed that Bharata , Bhāmaha and Vāmana also indicated Dhvani implicitly. He stated that not only alañkārikas but poets such as Vālmīki, Vyāsa, Kālidāsa and others acknowledged the existence of Dhvani and it can be seen everywhere in their respective compositions . However, he explicitly said that he got the inspiration for Dhvani from grammarians . Grammarians accept those words as Dhvani which express sphoṭa. However, Dhvani theorists accept the combination of words and their meaning as Dhvani which expresses suggestive meaning.
In the first kārikā of Dhvanyāloka, Ānandavardhana presented three views that oppose the theory of dhvani; abhāvavādin, bhaktivādin and alakṣaṇīyatāvādin. To begin with, abhāvavādin rejected the existence of dhvani. In addition, bhaktivādin assimilated Dhvani in the lakṣanā. Furthermore, alakṣaṇīyatāvādin claimed that it was impossible to express Dhvani through words. In other words, it was impossible to define dhvani. However, Ānandavardhana logically countered these views and established the notion of dhvani. Apart from establishing the theory of dhvani, Ānandavardhana also described basic notions of poetics such as kāvyaprayojanas (purpose of poetry) and kāvyahetus (cause of poetry). According to him, the purpose of poetry is to give pleasure to the sahṛdaya (one who understands poetry) . He accepted pratibhā (inborn talent) as a major cause of poetry . In addition, he also explained two categories of poetry; dhvanikāvya and guṇībhūtavyaṅgyakāvya. When the suggested meaning is more appealing than the literally expressed sense, it creates dhvanikāvya . It is considered uttama-kāvya (the best version of poetry). When the suggested meaning is equal or less appealing than the literally expressed sense, it creates guṇībhūtavyaṅgyakāvya. It is considered madhyama-kāvya (intermediate version of poetry). Furthermore, Ānandavardhana explained multiple subcategories dhvanikāvya and guṇībhūtavyaṅgyakāvya.
Ānandavardhana assimilates other elements of poetry that were proposed before him such as rasa, alaṅkāra (figure of speech), guṇa (quality) and rīti (style) in his categories and subcategories of poetry. In addition, he also included elements of grammar in dhvani. It makes this school more admissible. In addition, this theory impressed western literary critics and linguists. These are the reasons which make Dhvani school founded by Ānandavardhana in Dhvanyāloka best among other schools of Sanskrit poetics.
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