The Dhvanyāloka of Ānandavardhana with the Locana of Abhinavagupta


Book Description

For nearly a thousand years the brilliant analysis of aesthetic experience set forth in the Locana of Abhinavagupta, India's founding literary critic, has dominated traditional Indian theory on poetics and aesthetics. The Locana, presented here in English translation for the first time, is a commentary on the ninth-century Dhvanyaloka of Anandavardhana, which is itself the pivotal work in the history of Indian poetics. The Dhvanyaloka revolutionized Sanskrit literary theory by proposing that the main goal of good poetry is the evocation of a mood or "flavor" (rasa) and that this process can be explained only by recognizing a semantic power beyond denotation and metaphor, namely, the power of suggestion. On the basis of this analysis the Locana develops a theory of the psychology of aesthetic response. This edition is the first to make the two most influential works of traditional Sanskrit literary and aesthetic theory fully accessible to readers who want to know more about Sanskrit literature. The editorial annotations furnish the most complete exposition available of the history and content of these works. In addition, the verses presented as examples by both authors (offered here in verse translation) form an anthology of some of the finest Sanskrit and Prakrit poetry.




Indian Literary Criticism


Book Description

Literary criticism produced by Indian scholars from the earliest times to the present age is represented in this book. These include Bharatamuni, Tholkappiyar, Anandavardhana, Abhinavagupta, Jnaneshwara, Amir Khusrau, Mirza Ghalib, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, B.S. Mardhekar, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and A.K. Ramanujam and Sudhir Kakar among others. Their statements have been translated into English by specialists from Sanskrit, Persian and other languages.




Critique of Poetics


Book Description

Poetry And Poetics Are Integrally Related. The Former Is An Art Based On Emotions, Whereas The Latter Is A Science Evaluating Poetry. So Long Their Common Mode Of Treatment Has Been To Excite In The Mind The Emotions Appropriate To The Subject-Matter. But Science And Art Are Not Identical. The Former Uses The Discursive Mode; And The Latter The Presentational Mode. While Science Is Truth, The Art Is Adjectively True , I.E. It Does Not Conflict With The Truth.The Book Critique Of Poetics Is An Extremely Bold And Far Reaching Attempt At A Comprehensive Theory Of Poetry. It Starts With A Sound-Sense Continuum And Ends With Quantum Poetics. The Path Of Evolution Is Marked By The Poetic Process, The Flow Of Rasa, The Flight Of Pegasus, The Dance Of Resonons, The Doctrine Of Suggestion, Rx For Rhetoric, The Logic Of Signs And Symbols, The Poetic Imagery, The Miracle Of Communication, The Concept Of Criticism, Style And Stylistics, The Law Of Inspiration And Catharsis, The Limits Of Art, The Philosophy Of Beauty, East And West In Poetics, And The Theory Of Literature. And This Has Been Treated In A Global Perspective, Which Harmonizes Both East And West In Poetics. A Balance Has Also Been Struck Between The Two Approaches To The Study Of Literature Extrinsic And Intrinsic. The Former Is Characterized By Psychology-Society And Other Arts Whereas The Latter By Style And Stylistics, Image And Metaphor, Rhetoric And Suggestion, Beauty And The Like. A New Theory Of Literature Has Been Derived From These. This Is Born In A Continuum Of Sound And Sense, Of Space And Time. It Provides An Organ Of Evaluating The Past, Present And Future Works Of Literature. In This Context Quantum Poetics Marks The End Of The Evolutionary Process.




Sanskrit and Indian Studies


Book Description

From the Subhdsitaratnakosa, Verse No. 1729: vahati na pural) kascit pasclill na ko 'py anuyati mam na ca navapadak~ul)l)o marga!) katham nv aham ekaka!) bhavatu viditam purvavyu.




A Critique of Dhvanikārikās


Book Description

Study of Dhvani in Sanskrit poetics with special reference to Dhvanyāloka of Ānandavardhana, 10th cent. and its Dhvanyālokalocana commentary by Rājanaka Abhinavagupta; includes text of Dhvanyāloka.




An Introduction to Indian Aesthetics


Book Description

The thinkers and philosophers of ancient India contemplated intensively and extensively about all aspects related to life, and art was one of the major domains they touched upon. A profound and intense analysis of the art experience in literature naturally led to the evolution of one of the most sophisticated and long-standing poetic systems in the world. An Introduction to Indian Aesthetics: History, Theory, and Theoreticians offers a comprehensive historical and conceptual overview of all the major schools in Sanskrit poetics-one of the most sophisticated and long-standing traditions of literary criticism in the ancient world. The book, despite its primary focus on the major exponents of each school, also aims to give the reader a good idea as to how these concepts were treated before and after their major practitioners. An important part of Sanskrit poetics that often intimidates a modern reader is its seemingly difficult terminology. This book particularly addresses this issue by using contemporary idioms for readers who have no background of Sanskrit. It also aims to draw points of comparison, wherever relevant, between certain concepts in Sanskrit poetics and their western counterparts.




Banabhatta (Sanskrit Writer)


Book Description




The Pursuit of Comparative Aesthetics


Book Description

Comparative aesthetics is the branch of philosophy which compares the aesthetic concepts and practices of different cultures. The way in which cultures conceive of the aesthetic dimension of life in general and art in particular is revelatory of profound attitudes and beliefs which themselves make up an important part of the culture in question. This anthology of essays by internationally recognised scholars in this field brings into one volume some of the most important research in comparative aesthetics, from classic early essays to previously unpublished contemporary pieces. Ranging across cultures and time periods as diverse as ancient Greece, India and China and the modern West and Japan, the essays reveal both similarities and deep differences between the aesthetic traditions concerned. In the course of these expositions and comparisons there emerges the general conclusion that no culture can be fully grasped if its aesthetic ideas are not understood.




Puṣpikā: Tracing Ancient India Through Texts and Traditions


Book Description

It is perhaps commonplace to say that India is one of the world's richest and most enticing cultures. One thousand years have passed since Albiruni, arguably the first "Indologist", wrote his outsider's account of the subcontinent and two hundred years have passed since the inception of Western Indology. And yet, what this monumental scholarship has achieved is still outweighed by the huge tracts of terra incognita: thousands of works lacking scholarly attention and even more manuscripts which still await careful study whilst decaying in the unforgiving Indian climate. In September 2009 young researchers and graduate students in this field came together to present their cutting-edge work at the first International Indology Graduate Research Symposium, which was held at Oxford University. This volume, the first in a new series which will publish the proceedings of the Symposium, will make important contributions to the study of the classical civilisation of the Indian sub-continent. The series, edited by Nina Mirnig, Péter-Dániel Szántó and Michael Williams, will strive to cover a wide range of subjects reaching from literature, religion, philosophy, ritual and grammar to social history, with the aim that the research published will not only enrich the field of classical Indology but eventually also contribute to the studies of history and anthropology of India and Indianised Central and South-East Asia.