चतुर्वर्गफलप्राप्तिः सुखादल्पधियामपि ।
काव्यादेव यतस्तेन तत्स्वरूपं निरूप्यते ॥
caturvarga-phala-prāptiḥ sukhād alpa-dhiyām api |
kāvyād eva yatas tena tat-svarūpaṁ nirūpyate ||
(Sāhitya-darpaṇa: 1.2)
“Because attainment of the result of the caturvarga [i.e., dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa] occurs easily even for one of meager intelligence by means of poetry (kāvya), the nature of that [i.e., of poetry (kāvya)] is delineated [here in this text].”