Vakrokti of Kuntaka--Criticism & Theory

Kuntaka--Vakrokti

Kuntaka was an 11^th century poetician who has brilliantly anticipated many concepts used in the 20^th century criticism.

His theory of Vakrokti is a comprehensive one. It means figurativeness and obliquity of expression. It is a manifestation of the basic obliquity of the poet’s creative process.

According to Kuntaka, vakrokti or figurativeness manifests at 6 levels of expression in poetry:

Phonetic,

Lexical,

Grammatical,

Sentential,

Contextual, and

Compositional.

There is a surprising similarity between Kuntaka’s vakrokti and the concept of style as ‘deviation from the norm’ seen in modern stylistics. However it is equally important that while stylistics is concerned with phonological, grammatical and lexical aspects of the language, Kuntaka takes into account larger units of discourse also, such as context and composition itself taken as a whole. This enables him to view the entire gamut of the poetic creation from the point of view of artistic efficacy.

Phonetic figurativeness (Varnavinyasa Vakrata)—encompasses alliteration, rhyme, and all other subtle effects of sound in poetry. Kuntaka recognises onomatopoeic effects. Shakespeare’s ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’.

Lexical figurativeness (padapurvardha Vakrata)—includes stylistic choice in vocabulary, metaphor, power of adjectives and veiled expressions. For example, carefully concealing a Mahapataka—“Is he despatche’d”

Grammatical figurativeness ( pratyaya vakrata)—involves the deft use of suffixes, especially those indicating numbers, person, and case forms. It also includes delineation of inanimate objects as animate and personification of objects—instead of saying ‘tense’—‘make my seated heart knock at my ribs’.

Sentential Figurativeness (Vakyavakrata)—it is the permeating presence that enters all other elements. The effect is akin to a painter’s stroke that shines out distinctively from the beauty of the material used. Most of the figures of speech are instances of it.

                                    ‘Out, out, brief candle

                                    Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player

                                    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

                                    And then is heard no more….”

Kuntaka’s theory does not stop with the analysis of sentence as is done in stylistic studies, since techniques like contextual and compositional figurativeness analyse larger segments of the discourse than the sentence.

Contextual figurativeness (Prakarana vakrata) comprises all those factors which contribute to the strikingness of the context. The equivocation in the prediction of witches, culminating in the materialisation of the Birnamwood coming to Dunsinane, the  emergence of Macduff, ‘untimely ripp’d from his mother’s womb’ to kill Macbeth, the apparition of the witches and the sleep walking scene are examples of contextual figurativeness.

Compositional figurativeness ( Prabandha vakrata). This includes adaptation of  a story from a well-known source with new twists added to it, with a new emotional significance, deletion of unnecessary episodes, the development of even minor incidents into events of far reaching consequences and strikinglness. Kuntaka regards  a  literary composition as an allegory which conveys some profound moral message and this moral content is also regarded as a compositional figurativeness.

Duncan from a young and unsatisfactory monarch into a venerable old man so that his murder seems more gruesome. Conversion of a catalogue of crime and bloodshed in Holinshed into a profound study of guilt and self-destruction.

Kuntaka looks upon the literary piece as a whole from an essentially artistic angle, where the creativity of the poet is at play in fashioning out an artifact. This perspective should suit any work of art, especially literary masterpieces of all-time greats. However, an exploration of a work of art from Kuntaka’s perspective necessitates an understanding of the literary norm, from which the poet effects creative deviation. The literary norm, unlike in modern stylistics encompasses extra-linguistic features like context and composition. Both linguistic and extra linguistic aspects of art are encompassed in a comprehensive aesthetic theory with creativeness as its aesthetic mark.