Ramanujan's Poem

A STUDY OF A.K. RAMANUJAN’S POETRY IN THE LIGHT OF KUNTAKA’S “VAKROKTI SIDDHANTA.”
Venu Madan,
Associate Professor, Dept. of English,
Govt. College, Sector-14, Gurgaon.

Poetry is highly creative and innovative. It is a true expression of the poet’s experience, feelings, emotions and imagination. The poet transforms his worldly experience into an aesthetic and artistic composition, which is sieved through the knowledge of reality, universal laws and philosophical precepts together. It is not as simple as it appears. The poet is supposed to express the most ordinary experience in the most extraordinary but common words.

It is remarkable to note that the Sanskrit Acharyas were conscious of this creative use of language of poetry. They held that if one wanted to analyse poetry, one has to analyse the language of poetry. The Sanskrit theoreticians are to be credited for the theories and rules they laid down to apply on all the forms of literature. These theories are truly general theories of critical evaluation for understanding and consideration. These scholars have given due importance to the objective aspect of style. Moreover, they have paid attention to all the levels of linguistic structure. To them the language of poetry could be analysed in various ways known as sampradayas or schools- Rasa, Alankara, Riti, Dhvani, or Vakrokti and Aucitya.

Kuntaka is considered to be the greatest exponent of this school of poetry of ‘Vakrokti.’ According to him, ‘Vakrokti’ is the soul of Kavya. He considers poetic composition, obliquity and poetic activity as synonym. V.S. Apte in his Sanskrit-English dictionary defines vakrokti as 'a figure of speech consisting in the use of evasive speech or reply, either by means of a pun, or by an affected change of tone'. Vakrokti is a charming, oblique and suggestive expression. The theoreticians of this school emphasize on the obliqueness and implication of a poetic verse.