An Alaṅkāra Reader: Classical Indian Poetics with Yigal Bronner (Columbia UP, 2026)

What is alankara?

So that's, that's a big question, right? Um, alankara is a Sanskrit word that means ornament.

Uh, and this is the, and this is the main, uh, concept in Sanskrit poetics, so much so that the discipline has been named by, by its own practi- practitioners alankara shastra, the, the science or theory of ornaments, and the practitioners are called alankarikas, ornamentalists, m- makers of ornaments.

So, uh, by the broadest definition, like Daṇḍin's definition, ornaments are the aspects of-- that make, that make literature shobha, that make literature beautiful.

So in, in its broadest, uh, definition, it's a catch-all category that, uh, encapsulates all the beautiful things that make literature, that make poetic language, uh, attractive and different than just, uh, ordinary, uh, prosaic language.

Um, now, the metaphor of ornament is very important, and I think it's something we, people with modern sensibilities need to get used to and, and, and we need to a- appreciate that ornaments are not considered, generally speaking, some kind of like an external and meaningless accessory that has nothing to do with aesthetics.

But on the contrary, and that's the etymology of the word, they are the things that make something, kara, alam, sufficient, potent, powerful, alive, uh, attractive.

So I think this is a very strange notion to get used to at, at first, and it takes, it takes some getting used to.

But once you are willing to accept that, you're willing to accept that there, uh, by-- that this kind of metaphor means and entails that beauty is creating some kind of depth on the surface.

Or let me rephrase it, that this kind of depth on the surface, like cosmetics, like, uh, rings and bracelets and earrings and, uh, and so on, like, um, uh, like the eyes themselves on, on the statue or on the, on the eye, on the image and, of the deity in the temple.

So by, by the way, alankara is a concept that runs across all of these domains of aesthetics, the human body, architecture, temple, the deity in a temple, a music- musical piece, a song, a play, a text, the language itself.

All of these things are enhanced by these devices called alankaras, and without them, the theory implies there is no alam.

There is not enough.

There is not potency.

There is no aesthetic charm.

There is no power.

What is alankara?

So that's, that's a big question, right? Um, alankara is a Sanskrit word that means ornament.

Uh, and this is the, and this is the main, uh, concept in Sanskrit poetics, so much so that the discipline has been named by, by its own practi- practitioners alankara shastra, the, the science or theory of ornaments, and the practitioners are called alankarikas, ornamentalists, m- makers of ornaments.

So, uh, by the broadest definition, like Daṇḍin's definition, ornaments are the aspects of-- that make, that make literature shobha, that make literature beautiful.

So in, in its broadest, uh, definition, it's a catch-all category that, uh, encapsulates all the beautiful things that make literature, that make poetic language, uh, attractive and different than just, uh, ordinary, uh, prosaic language.

Um, now, the metaphor of ornament is very important, and I think it's something we, people with modern sensibilities need to get used to and, and, and we need to a- appreciate that ornaments are not considered, generally speaking, some kind of like an external and meaningless accessory that has nothing to do with aesthetics.

But on the contrary, and that's the etymology of the word, they are the things that make something, kara, alam, sufficient, potent, powerful, alive, uh, attractive.

So I think this is a very strange notion to get used to at, at first, and it takes, it takes some getting used to.

But once you are willing to accept that, you're willing to accept that there, uh, by-- that this kind of metaphor means and entails that beauty is creating some kind of depth on the surface.

Or let me rephrase it, that this kind of depth on the surface, like cosmetics, like, uh, rings and bracelets and earrings and, uh, and so on, like, um, uh, like the eyes themselves on, on the statue or on the, on the eye, on the image and, of the deity in the temple.

So by, by the way, alankara is a concept that runs across all of these domains of aesthetics, the human body, architecture, temple, the deity in a temple, a music- musical piece, a song, a play, a text, the language itself.

All of these things are enhanced by these devices called alankaras, and without them, the theory implies there is no alam.

There is not enough.

There is not potency.

There is no aesthetic charm.

There is no power.