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'''Bhamaha''' ({{lang-sa|भामह}}, {{IAST|Bhāmaha}}) ({{circa|7th century}}<ref name="shastri">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYxpvZLg4hAC&q=Bhamaha+seventh+century&pg=PA151|title=A Concise History of Classical Sanskrit Literature|last=Shastri|first=Gaurinath|year=1998|orig-year=1943|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|location=Delhi|isbn=81-208-0175-X|page=151}}</ref>) was a [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] [[poetics|poetician]] believed to be contemporaneous with [[Daṇḍin]]. He is noted for writing a work called ''Kavyalankara'' ({{lang-sa|काव्यालङ्कार}}, {{IAST|Kāvyālaṅkāra}}) ("The ornaments of poetry"). For centuries, he was known only by reputation, until manuscripts of the ''Kāvyālaṃkāra'' came to the attention of scholars in the early 1900s.<ref>Yigal Bronner, 'A Question of Priority: Revisiting the Bhamaha-Daṇḍin Debate', ''The Journal of Indian Philosophy'', 40 (2012), 67–118 (p. 68). DOI 10.1007/s10781-011-9128-x</ref>

==Biography==
Bhamaha was apparently from [[Vale of Kashmir|Kashmir]]<ref>[[Richard Pischel]], ''A Grammar of the Prakrit Languages'', Motilal Banarsidass (1999), p. 43</ref><ref>Satya Ranjan Banerjee, ''The Eastern School of Prakrit Grammarians: A Linguistic Study'', Vidyasagar Pustak Mandir (1977), p. 31</ref><ref>Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, ''India & Beyond'', [[Routledge]] (2009), p. 2</ref><ref>John E. Cort, ''Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History'', [[State University of New York Press]] (1998), p.57</ref>

Little is known of Bhāmaha's life: the last verse of the ''Kāvyālaṃkāra'' says that his father was called Rakrilagomin, but little more is known:<ref name="Kane">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BLiCSTFOGnMC&q=Bhamaha&pg=PA78|title=History of Sanskrit Poetics|last=Kane|first=P. V.|pages=78–88|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|location=Delhi|isbn=81-208-0274-8|year=1998|orig-year=1971}}</ref>

<blockquote>Later Kashmiri writers often treat Bhāmaha as the founding father of Sanskrit poetics and, by the same token, make him stand for everything that is old school, a trend that must have begun with [[Udbhaṭa]] (c. 800) and his vast commentary on Bhāmaha’s work. This Kashmiri connection has led many to assume that Bhāmaha, too, hailed from the northern vale. But if this is the case, then, unlike many of his followers, whose patrons, positions, and, in some cases, salaries are referred to by Kalhaṇa, Bhāmaha does not receive any mention in the famous chronicle of Kashmir’s courts, the [[Rajatarangini|Rājataraṅgiṇī]] (River of Kings).<ref name="Yigal Bronner 2012 p. 79">Yigal Bronner, 'A Question of Priority: Revisiting the Bhamaha-Daṇḍin Debate', ''The Journal of Indian Philosophy'', 40 (2012), 67–118 (p. 79). DOI 10.1007/s10781-011-9128-x</ref></blockquote>

Bhāmaha is rather seldom mentioned as a poet by later commentators, but seems to have had a significant reputation as a grammarian, being cited by the eighth-century [[Śāntarakṣita]]. The Bhāmaha who composed the ''Kāvyālaṃkāra'' might also be the same person as the one who composed a commentary on [[Vararuchi|Vararuci’s]] Prākṛtaprakāáa, a Prakrit grammar, and a few other works have also been tentatively attributed to him.<ref>Yigal Bronner, 'A Question of Priority: Revisiting the Bhamaha-Daṇḍin Debate', ''The Journal of Indian Philosophy'', 40 (2012), 67–118 (pp. 79–80). DOI 10.1007/s10781-011-9128-x</ref>

The ''Kāvyālaṃkāra'' has, however, been widely recognised as similar to and in many ways in disagreement with the ''[[Kāvyādarśa]]'' by [[Daṇḍin]]. Although modern scholars have debated which scholar was borrowing from which, or who was responding to whom, recent work suggests that Bhāmaha was the earlier scholar, and that Daṇḍin was responding to him. 'This would place Bhāmaha no later than the early 600s'.<ref>Yigal Bronner, 'A Question of Priority: Revisiting the Bhamaha-Daṇḍin Debate', ''The Journal of Indian Philosophy'', 40 (2012), 67–118 (p. 110). DOI 10.1007/s10781-011-9128-x</ref>

==''Kāvyālaṃkāra''==
Bhamaha's Kāvyālaṃkāra is divided into six ''pariccheda''s (chapters).<ref name="shastri"/> It comprises 398 verses, including two verses at the end of the sixth chapter, which briefly describe the number of verses on each of the five topics.<ref name="Kane"/> In the first verse, Bhamaha mentioned his work as Kavyalankara.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9dpqORJYizkC&q=Kavyalankara&pg=PA473|title=Critique Of Poetics|volume=Vol.II|last=Biswas|first=A. R.|publisher=Atlantic|location=New Delhi|isbn=81-269-0438-0|year=2005|page=473}}</ref>

The first chapter comprises 69 verses. After the invocation of [[Rudra|Sarva]], it defines ''[[Kāvya|kavya]]'' and describes the qualifications of a good poet. It also narrates various genres and styles of poems, which include ''Vaidarbhi'' and ''Gaudi''.

In the beginning of the second chapter, three ''guna''s of poems, namely ''prasada'', ''madhurya'' and ''ojah'' are discussed.

It is followed by the discussion about the ''alankara''s ([[figures of speech]]), which continues till the end of the third chapter.

The fourth chapter mentions about the eleven types of ''dosha''s (blemishes) of ''kavya'' and defines first ten of these ''dosha''s with illustrations.

The fifth chapter discusses the eleventh ''dosha'' and its causes. It is based on the [[Nyaya]]-[[Vaisheshika]] epistemology. The sixth chapter emphasizes the necessity of the grammatical accuracy and some practical hints to the poets are also provided.<ref name="Kane"/>

===Editions===

* Kāvyālamṃkāra of Bhāmaha. Ed. Batuk Nāth Śarmā and Baldev Upādhyāya. Kāśī Sanskrit Series 61, 1928. Reprinted, Varanasi: Chaukhambha Sanskrit Sansthan, 1981.

===Commentaries===
The only known pre-modern commentary on ''Kavyalankara'' is the 'learned and important'<ref name="Yigal Bronner 2012 p. 79"/> ''Bhamahavivarana'' or ''Bhamahavritti'' by Udbhaṭa.<ref name="Kane"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_UhEvnIZjT4C&q=Udbhata+Bhamaha+Kavyalankara&pg=PA22|title=Indian Poetics|last=Sreekantaiya|first= T. N.|page=22|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|year=2001|location=New Delhi|isbn=81-260-0807-5}}</ref> However, only a few fragments of this survive.<ref>Gnoli, R. (1962). Udbhaṭ’s commentary on the ‘‘Kāvyālaṃkāra’’ of Bhāmaha. Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente.</ref>

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101110061312/http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gretil/1_sanskr/5_poetry/1_alam/bhakavpu.htm Transliterated text of Bhamaha's Kavyalankara] at [[GRETIL]]
* [http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/DigitalBook/B/Bhamakavyaalankar.pdf Sanskrit text of Bhamaha's Kavyalankara] prepared by [[Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Sanskrit poets]]
[[Category:Sanskrit poetry]]
[[Category:7th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:7th-century Indian scholars]]
[[Category:7th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:7th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:7th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Indian male writers]]

Bhamaha - Revision history

CleanupBot at 04:37, 11 December 2022