Saddālaṅkāra and Atthālaṅkāra in the Subodhālaṅkāra

Abstract

The Indian science of rhetoric （alaṅkāra） systematizes figures of speech. While a large number of classical works on Sanskrit rhetoric have been handed down to us, Pāli rhetoric has only one extant treatise: the Subodhālaṅkāra, written by Saṅgharakkhita. This paper discusses how verbal figures of speech （saddālaṅkāra） and semantic figures of speech （atthālaṅkāra） are defined and related to each other in the Subodhālaṅkāra, with a special focus on the relationship between superimposition （samādhi） and metaphor （rūpaka）.

This paper concludes with the following two points. First, in the Subodhālaṅkāra, we can infer that saddālaṅkāra refers to merit （guṇa） and atthālaṅkāra refers to figures of speech. Second, the two alaṅkāras affect each other as in the case of samādhi and rūpaka. Furthermore, saddālaṅkāra and atthālaṅkāra have a point of contact, so it is possible to assume a relationship in which saddālaṅkāra is established by atthālaṅkāra or its effect is increased by atthālaṅkāra, rather than a relationship in which atthālaṅkāra is established by saddālaṅkāra, as pointed out in previous studies.