Alankararatnakara of Sobhakaramitra: A Study

Alankararatnakara of Sobhakaramitra is a work belonging to the latter part of 12th century. Though it does not mention ruyyaka the author of alankarasarvasva the author of alankarasarvasva, by name. On finds that the work Alankarasarvasva, by name. One finds that the work Alankararatnakara was written with the sole aim of criticizing the views of Ruyyaka as presented in the Alankarasarvasva. Jayaratha the prominent commentator on the Alankarasarvasva, in his Vimarsini upholds the views of ruyyaka against the attacks of Sobhakaramitra and he (Jayaratha) too does not mention Sobhakaramitra by name any where in his commentary. The present work takes upon itself the interesting task of evaluating the views of the three authors ruyyaka, Sobhakaramitra and Jayaratha. The divergent opinions on various figures have been dialectically viewed and critically assessed. The criticism has been mainly attempted on the basis of important texts on the subject like the dhvanyaloka and Kavyaprakasa. The work further, brings to light the forty new figures coined by sobhakaramitra of which figures like Vaidharmya’ , Viparyaya’ Vyapti’ and ‘Atisiya’ deserve special mention. The role played by the subjective element of the reader (Pramatrdharma) which has been newly introduced by Sobhakaramitra is presented to decide certain important issues.