Yamaka in BÄɚa’s Poetry

Abstract

Yamaka, one of well-known verbal figures of speech in Sanskrit literature, is syllabic repetition with different meaning. It is the objective of this essay to analyze Yamaka in Bāṇa’s poetry, one of major Sanskrit poets, in order to understand forms of Yamaka used in Sanskrit composition with the assumption that Yamaka is indicative of the style of Bāṇa’s poetry. The findings are that in Bāṇa’s poetry Yamaka appear 29 times in 25 stanzas. All of these are short Yamakas. Most often appearing are two close, or almost, syllabic repetitions in the middle of stanzas. Sometimes Śleṣa, Sanskrit punning, appears as old-fashioned Yamaka. Hence, these aspects are to be considered as the individual style of Bāṇa’s Yamaka, and the criteria to resolve the question of the authorship of Bāṇa’s poems.