Three-eyed against five-arrowed: Surveying Sanskrit Literary Conventions Surveying Sanskrit Literary Conventions

Abstract

Conventions in literature can broadly be recognized to be perpetual opinions descending from the traditional consciousness of the cultured public. Because of their not being mere kaleidoscopic conjectures shaped into the moulds of our figurative thoughts, they become stronger and more firmly established when continuously followed for ages. Examining how Sanskrit literary conventions nourish, maintain and vitalize the literature and vice versa helps us approach more informedly the well-developed literary traditions in India. In this study, a few salient literary conventions are concisely examined in the light of their use in the classical Sanskrit literature by adhering to selected primary literary works plus some secondary and tertiary sources of information where necessary. This study attempts to categorize Sanskrit literary conventions into plausible genres on the basis of their origin, nature, and use; such as conventional characters, phenomena, symbols and objects, concepts, deeds, and numerals. Further, it argues that the fundamental impetuses of the origin and establishment of literary conventions are the very literary theories such as Willing Suspension of Disbelief. How literary conventions are formed and how successful they have been in vivifying and modifying Classical Sanskrit literature are also briefly discussed here.