Alamkara

(“ornamentation”) A term for figures of
speech in Sanskrit poetry, of which there
are more than one hundred types. Many
of these are the same as those used in
English poetics, such as metaphor, simile,
contrast, hyperbole, alliteration, and
puns. The Sanskrit literati distinguished
these figures of speech even further into
more specific types, such as a simile
expressing wonder, a simile expressed by
doubt, and poetic error, which is the
inverse of a metaphor (“that’s not the
moon, but her face . . .”). Other forms are
unique to Indian poetry, such as respective enumeration, an extended comparison in which one line mentions several
referents and the following lines
describe their attributes, always in the
same order as the first line. Another
form unique to Indian poetry is denial in
which the speaker’s real intent is
expressed by denial, but is accompanied
by enough suggestion to indicate the
true meaning. The use of alamkara
marked all kinds of Sanskrit poetry, both
religious and nonreligious, and many of
these forms were brought into the later
devotional poetry in the vernacular
Indian languages. For further information on Sanskrit poetics, see Daniel H. H.
Ingalls, Sanskrit Poetry, 1968.