An Alaṅkāra Reader: Classical Indian Poetics (Historical Sourcebooks in Classical Indian Thought)

An Alaṅkāra Reader: Classical Indian Poetics (Historical Sourcebooks in Classical Indian Thought)

Classical Indian poetics prized the skillful use of alaṅkāra s, or “ornaments”―literary figures of speech. Across more than a millennium, Sanskrit writers developed and elaborated an account of literary embellishment that is perhaps the world’s most complex and long-standing theory of figuration. Yet it remains the least studied of India’s major classical systems of thought. An Alaṅkāra Reader is a groundbreaking panoramic overview of this tradition, presenting extensive and accessible translations of key works that span its history, from the sixth century CE to the eighteenth. These texts vividly show how Indian theorists analyzed simile, metaphor, allegory, and dozens of other figures that are distinctive to their world. Yigal Bronner’s commentary makes Sanskrit concepts of ornamentation approachable while placing them in historical context. He provides a new account of the history of Sanskrit poetics, showing how it underwent successive waves of theoretical revolutions and emerged as a prestigious field that attracted a variety of scholars in the early modern era. Featuring many previously untranslated texts, An Alaṅkāra Reader is an essential resource for the study of classical Indian thought, the intellectual history of South Asia, and comparative literature. It reveals the depth and nuance of Sanskrit’s “science of ornaments” for anyone interested in poetic theory, figuration, and aesthetics across world traditions. An Alaṅkāra Reader is a scholarly masterpiece, unique in its field. Although Sanskrit poetic theory has enjoyed considerable scholarly attention, there has never been such a full-fledged presentation of the discipline. Bronner’s reconstruction of the evolution of Sanskrit poetics, beautifully articulated in his very strong introduction, offers a strikingly new perspective. This is a pioneering work that will change the study of premodern South Asian intellectual history. -- David Shulman, author of Tamil: A Biography An Alaṅkāra Reader instantiates “integrity,” a quality cherished by classical Sanskrit literary theorists that becomes evident “when things of the past and of the future that are uniquely amazing take shape, as it were, before one’s very eyes.” In language friendly to all kinds of readers, Yigal Bronner has given us an integral, groundbreaking history of Sanskrit reflection on poetics, which opens up a bright future in which Indian thinkers can help us understand the ornaments that make literature beautiful. A dazzling achievement. -- Maria Heim, author of Words for the Heart: A Treasury of Emotions from Classical India Bronner has written the best history of Sanskrit poetic theory I have ever read. His translations are at once thoughtful and playful, precise and fun to read. An Alaṅkāra Reader is an ideal introduction to some of the most sophisticated thinking about poetry the world has ever seen. -- Whitney Cox, author of Politics, Kingship, and Poetry in Medieval South India: Moonset on Sunrise Mountain Yigal Bronner is a professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he teaches Sanskrit and South Asian intellectual history. His books include Extreme Poetry: The South Asian Movement of Simultaneous Narration (2010) and A Lasting Vision: Dandin’s Mirror in the World of Asian Letters (2023).