Indian Aesthetics

  

 Indian aesthetics is a unique philosophical and spiritual point of view on art, architecture and also literature. It can be divided into three:

• Rasa

• Vyanjana

• Alankara

Theory of Rasa

     Rasa is an emotion excited by artistic situations. It is the aesthetic emotion which can be regarded as the very corner stone or in fact the 'nucleus' of Indian Aesthetics. It is widely recognised in both poetry and drama.
    

Bharata is the mythical author of Natyasastra who recognised the supreme position of Rasa in aesthetic for the first time. Natyasastra is an encyclopaedic work covering all aspects of theatre. Bharata also deals with the process of genesis of Rasa through his famous Rasasutra. Genesis of Rasa occurs out of comination of Vibhavas, Anubhavas and Vyabhicharibhavas.

1. VIBHAVAS

    It stands for all the cases direct and indirect which are responsible for the arousal of an emotion. It has two aspects:

• Alambana

Person or persons with reference to whom an emotion is aroused or manifested.

• Udippana

The background features which enhance the emotion.

   

    2. ANUBHAVAS

    

    That which causes the experience. It means bodily expressions by which the emotion is expressed.
 

  

    3. VYABHICHARIBHAVAS
    

    It refers to a series of drives of diverse emotions that feed the dominant emotion. It is to be understood as a transitory emotion which is directed towards the base main emotion which is one amongst the Nava Rasas.

The Nava Rasa:

• Rati (love)

• Hasa (comic)

• Soka (pathos)

• Utsaha (heroic)

• Krodha (fury)

• Bhaya (fear)

• Juguptsa (disgust)

• Vismaya (wonder)

• Sama (calm)

 

    The above mentioned nine emotions are permanently in human nature. No emotion is however called Rasa unless it is aesthetically excited.  

Vyanjana

    Vyanjana or Sahrdaya is a suggestion in poetry. It is the soul of poetic charm found in all artistic works. Jesperson describes three distinct elements present in all speech:

• Expression

• Suppression

• Impression

    Ability of  a writer lies in his ability to impress by suppression. This suppressed element is the essence of speech, and the greater the art, greater is the suppressed element. What is suppressed arouses the curiosity of the reader to conduct a sort of intellectual quest into it and comes out triumphant with an intellectual conquest.

Alankara

    Abhinavagupta is held in high esteem among the interpreters by poets. He recognised the basic affinity of the aesthetic experience with spiritual experience. He clearly showed how the poetic language triggers off the aesthetic process through its  suggestive process. In a truly poetic composition, the writer first of all grasps the full significance of the word and its possible meanings. The poetic language has its own magical properties because it is endowed with various flourishes of expressions (alankara).

 

   Abhinavagupta points out that every individual is blessed with some dominant emotive instincts at his very birth. When purely individualised emotion becomes an object of cognition, it is invariably related to these deep subconscious strata of the human psyche and this aesthetic experience penetrates into the deepest realm of one's personality.

   Use and Abuse of Alankara

 It is believed that in poetry, feelings and imaginations are necessary to the perception and even presentation of matters of the fact. Natural description is called Swabhavokthi which is a plain statement. A figure of speech is a deviation from the plain and ordinary. All poetic expressions involve a kind of deviation of beauty called Alankara. We can hardly convey poetry without this beautiful form.

    Alankara is defined as the inevitable incarnation in which an idea embodies itself. According to Anandavardhana alankara is not the sarira (outer body) but sariri (the soul).
Bhoja classifies alankara into three groups:

• Those of Sabda (word): Bahya (external)

• Those of Artha (meaning): Abhyarthana (internal)

• Those of both Sabda and Artha: Bahyabhyarthana (external-internal)

AUCITYA
    The ultimate beauty of poetry lies in the aucitya or appropriateness or harmony and proportion. Like the ornaments are of no use on a carcass, alankara tend to be futile without the magical element aucitya. It determines the proper place and function of alankaras. 

    Alankara can be a beautifying factor only when it is appropriate to artha and through it to Rasa.

    Anandavardhana calls to the judicious use of alankaras. They must be auxiliary and must never become of prime importance. The poet must never lose sight of the central theme and the figures must be employed only in accordance with the main idea. The figures must never be overworked and must be assigned a secondary position. 

-Ayesha Sana PNP