Indian Aesthetics
Indian aesthetics has provided a huge range of human
experiences, thoughts, lasting values, beliefs, and pleasures. The tradition of
Indian aesthetics is the oldest and vastest of any, with commentaries emanating
from the far north in Kashmir to the deep south in Tamil Nadu. Over time,
Indian aesthetic theories have crossed the disciplines and have become useful
to almost all researchers and scholars of the different arts and of literature.
Of primary importance, it is considered the prototype of Sanskrit, which in due
course made it relevant not only to literature and the humanities but also to
the performing arts, comparative studies, and social sciences.
Indian aesthetics is a vast and diverse subject that warrants
a keen interest from practitioners of aesthetics.
Indian Aesthetics The aim of this book is to present key scholarly
works, thereby creating greater general interest, and relate this to the
various fields of Indian aesthetics. This book is based on various sources,
including Bharata-Muni’s Nāṭyaśāstra, Ānandavardhana’s Dhvanyāloka, Abhinavagupta’s
Abhinavabhāratī and Locana, and other relevant texts. It sets out to address
issues related to Indian aesthetics and Indian poetics from both technical and
philosophical perspectives and aims systematically to examine key problems in
Indian aesthetics. Indian Aesthetics It assimilates and documents the different
manuscripts, texts, commentaries, and sources available in Sanskrit, Hindi,
English, and Gujarati, gathering these materials into a single book. Indian
Aesthetics The book’s appendices include prestigious scholars’ thoughts on the
subject to widen readers’ understanding of the available perspectives. Finally,
many Sanskrit words are explained in English in the text itself to support the
flow of the thought, and a comprehensive glossary is given at the end of the
book to help non-readers of Sanskrit.
Indian Aesthetics Of particular concern to Indian drama and
literature are the term 'bhAva' or the state of mind and rasa (Sanskrit lit.
'juice' or 'essence') referring generally to the emotional flavors/essence
crafted into the work by the writer and relished by a 'sensitive spectator' or
sahṛdaya or one with positive taste and
mind. Rasas are created by bhavas. They are described by Bharata Muni in the
Nātyasāstra, an ancient work of dramatic theory.
Although the concept of rasa is fundamental to many forms of
Indian art including dance, music, musical theatre, cinema and literature, the
treatment, interpretation, usage and actual performance of a particular rasa
differs greatly between different styles and schools of abhinaya, and the huge
regional differences even within one style. Experience of rasa (rasAnubhava) A
rasa is the developed relishable state of a permanent mood, which is called
sthAyI bhAva. This development towards a relishable state results by the interplay
on it of attendant emotional conditions which are called Vibhavas, anubhAvas
and sancharI/ vyAbhichArI bhavas. Indian Aesthetics The production of aesthetic
rasa from bhAvas is analogous to the production of tastes/juices of kinds from
food with condiments, curries, pastes and spices. This is explained by the
quote below: Vibhavas means karana or cause.
Indian Aesthetics It is of two kinds: Alambana, the personal
or human object and substratum, and Uddipana, the excitants. Anubhava, as the
name signifies, means the ensuants or effects following the rise of the
emotion. vyAbhichArI bhavas are described later. Vedic concept The Rishi
Praskanva insists that the sources of knowledge some of which are open and some
hidden they are to be sought and found by the seekers after Truth, these
sources are not available everywhere, anywhere and at all times.
In this context Rishi Agastyastating thus reminds the ardent
seekers about the six kinds of Rasa or taste which food has but which all
tastes cannot be found in one place or item, for these tastes are variously
distributed throughout space. Indian Aesthetics Food, in this context, means
matter or objects or thoughts, which are all produced effects, effects that are
produced owing to various causes. The Rasas are the unique qualities which
bring about variety in things created whose source is one and one only.
It has been said that the Upaniṣads tried to find the philosophical
conceptions of religions and gods through deep speculations and the sheer idea
of consciousness. But, as is articulated by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, in general
the Upaniṣads
were too preoccupied with deeper speculations to exhibit a conscious art, or to
discuss why the art of their times lacked “explicit aesthetics.”
On that given freedom, neither free thought nor free sense
could have been developed. Coomaraswamy is right to deny the existence of
“explicit aesthetics” in the Upaniṣadic period. However, he was only
considering aesthetics in the context of art; indeed, in his thought the
non-exhibition of art accompanied the nonexistence of aesthetics as a whole. In
terms of their intrinsic nature, Indian philosophical schools can be divided
into two broad categories, āstika (orthodox schools) and nāstika (heterodox
schools); the first believes in the authority of the Vedas (as a whole), Indian
Aesthetics the second does not accept the authority of the Vedas—in this
category are Jainism, Buddhism, and Lokāyata (although the categories overlap).
The division has also been understood as a division between the Indian
non-atheist school (āstika) and the atheist school (nāstika)—here, mainly
Lokāyata.
anscendental, which in India was Brāhman or ultimate reality.
The origin of drama is closely connected with the Hindu religious trinity: (i)
Brahma, (ii) Viṣṇu, and (iii) Mahesvara. Emerging from consciousness, artistic
representation may be traced back to Vedantic and pre-Vedantic philosophy where
“thoughts” preceded “form.” From the abstract to the figurative, and from the
figurative to the abstract, the core of Indian aesthetics developed in highly
structured and original fashion in the Nāṭyaśāstra. Indian Aesthetics The
Indian conception of nāṭya is considered one of the best ways to understand the
Indian conception of art and aesthetics due to its inter-genre artistic and
aesthetic characteristics.
At its simplest, nāṭya as a part of the Indian poetical
tradition is considered as visible poetry with prayoga (practice) and praised
as the best among all poetry due to its effectiveness and wider approaches and
significance. In other traditional performances it is līlā or attam (Kṛṣṇalīlā, Rāmlīlā, Kuddiattam,
Mohiniattam, etc.)—the term also stands for “play.” Indian Aesthetics Moreover,
since in these performances, the performer is at the centre—or one can say that
traditional Indian performances are performer-centric—from this perspective
whatever is performed (presented) by nata (performer) is nāṭya (performance). From the viewpoint
of presentation, it is an imitation of that world in which we live
(lokavritinukarnam nāṭyametanmayakrita) or the representation of the states of
three worlds (trailokashyashay sharvashya nāṭyam bhāvanukirtanam). Indian
Aesthetics In the words of Brahma, “I have devised this nāṭya as the mimicry of the ways of the
world, endowed with various emotions and consisting of various situations.”
Therefore, it is very clear that, although it is an imitation, it is not the
imitation of the real but the ways of the real that is in fact very suggestive
(based on nāṭyadahrmi),
rather than realistic acting based on lokadharmi.
Indian Aesthetics NĀTYAŚĀSTRA
Indian Aesthetics Drama or nāṭya is considered the most beautiful
part of Indo-Sanskrit literature. The earliest forms of dramatic literature in
India are represented by samvāda—Suktas (hymns that contain dialogues) of the
Rigveda. Bharata-Muni is the founder of the science of music and dramaturgy.
His Nāṭyaśāstra, with its encyclopaedic
character, is the earliest known book on Sanskrit dramaturgy. The first chapter
of the Nāṭyaśāstra
relates to the origin of drama. The gods, under the leadership of Indra,
expressed their desire for something that was drishya (enjoyable to the eye),
shravya (delightful to the ear), and krīḍanaka (entertainment to fulfil
desire). Indian Aesthetics Brahma created a fifth Veda—the Nāṭyaveda, taking elements from four
other Vedas—pāthya (dialogue or text) from the Rigveda, gīta (music) from the
Sāmaveda, abhināya (acting) from the Yajurveda, and rasa (emotions) from the
Atharvaveda. Amritamanthan and Tripurdaha were the first two plays, which were
staged on the occasion of the flag ceremony of Indra.
Dhvani
Indian Aesthetics Anandavardhana (who influenced
Abhinavagupta and many others) propagated the theory of dhvani. Dhvani theory
is seen as an extension of Rasa theory. It entrenched the theory of rasa in the
field of poetry. Indian Aesthetics Anandavardhana states in his famous work
Dhvanyaloka that words can convey apart from its conventional meaning, a
suggested meaning. In a composition, when the suggested sense prevails it is
called dhvani. That is, a suggestive poetry is called dhvani. Anandavardhana
tried to show that rasa can be best conveyed through dhvani.
Theory of Rasa
Indian Aesthetics The concept of Rasa is the corner stone of
Indian Aesthetics and performative art in particular. Though the origin of the
concept is debated, it is generally believed that the sage Bharata Muni’s
Bharata Natya is the primary source of the theory.
Indian Aesthetics Natya Sastra: believed to be written
between 200 BCE and 200 CE.
Rasa refers to the reader’s/audience’ aesthetic
experience of a work of art. By means of Sadharanikarana (Abinavagupta’s
term-book Abhinavabharati) which de-individualises the experience of
a work of art thereby universalizing the same, Rasa transports the
readers/audience to a transpersonal level and renders them receptive
to Nirvana, the experience of a higher realm of aesthetic pleasure.
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