The Dhvanyāloka of Ānandavardhana with the Locana of Abhinavagupta

Until he is filled with this rasa
The poet does not spill it forth.

In this weeks discussion of Indian poetic aesthetics two terms predominated the readings, that of rasa and dhavani. Rasa being essentially the ultimate purpose of poetry and dhavani the method by which this is achieved. To give some background and highlight some of the discussion....

In the analysis of the achievement of a great poem there are fundamentally three aspects, the poets creative inspiration, the result in the form of the words of the poem itself and the effect upon the receiver of the poem, the reader. In the theory of Indian poetics there emerged two great authors Anandavardhana, a Kashmir author of the 9th century and Abhinavagupta, another Kashmiri philosopher who wrote a commentary on Ananda's treatise in the 10th century. In their theories of Indian poetics a central purpose was to distinguish, define and analyze what constitutes a superb poem.

Without any question this is an elusive pursuit however there are a few direct statements that define the view of these authors. The early authors of this subject Bhamaha and Dandin outlined and defined alankara, figures of speech used in poetry, the good and bad qualities in writing poetry and remarked on various styles ritis. Their analysis of various qualities such as sweetness madhurya focused primarily on formal arrangements of words in achieving effects which was summarized as "style is the soul of poetry". However, it was with the writings of Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta (with some credit due to the lost works of Udbhata) that the Bharata's doctrine of the rasas, the flavours or moods of a theatrical piece was introduced into a general theory of literature and through which this analysis of what constitutes excellence in poetry could be explored and the new paradigm of "the doctrine that the beauty of particular words depends on the rasa that the author wishes to achieve" and that rasa, not style that is the soul of poetry.

With Ananda what Bharata had introduced, the importance of rasa, Ananda made paramount. It is the two concepts of dhavani (suggestion) and rasa (flavor) that comprise the two main building blocks of Ananda's theory of poetics. Dhavani falls into the area of the discussion of meaning in poetry into which there are two main catgories, direct meaning (abhida) and inferred meaning (laksana). Suggestion itself is further subdivided into that which shifts to something else (arthantarasankramita) an example of which Ananda cites from the Ramayana by Valmiki, the first poet:

The sun has stolen our affection for the moon,
Whose circle now is dull with frost,
And like a mirror blinded by one's breath
Shines no more.

In this example "blinded" qualities of an animate creature to an inanimate object, the moon embuing it with various other qualities such as loss of beauty. An even greater form of suggestion (vivaksitanyaparavacya) is that which reveals the ultimate purpose of poetry the leading to the potential for the experience of rasa by the reader.

Rasa is defined as juice, flavor, taste. In terms of a play or poem, it is the mood that characterizes the piece. These have been described as eight kinds (with the 9th peace santa added by Ananda) as the erotic (srngara), the comic (hasya), the tragic (karuna) the furious or cruel (raudra), the heroic (vira), the fearsome or timorous (bhyanaka), the gruesome or loathsome (bibhatsa) and the wonderous (abhuta). These moods are based on human emotions, of which Ananda did not elaborate but the discussion was taken up by his commentator Abhinava. The Rasasutra explains that rasa is produced by the combination of the determinates (vibhavas), the consequents (anubhavas) and the temporary or transitory state of mind (vyabhicarinah). The determinates are the object towards the emotion is focused (such as the lovers in erotic rasa), the determinates are the setting or conditions (such as a springtime garden in which we find the lovers). The consequents are the subsequent characteristics (such as the twirling of the bracelet by the young shy girl or sidelong glances of the lovers). The transitory mind is states such as jealousy, discouragement and the secondary involuntary states such as trembling.

In the exposition by Ananda these elements are explained as experienced by both the poet who forms them into the expression in words and the sensitive reader who responds from the heart. Ananda conceives this rasa to abide in the character invented by the poet or in the poet himself as well as in the audience. As for the poet himself, it is when he is under such a heightened state of emotion as rasa that he becomes capable of writing the suggestive poetry that will transfer this rasa to his hearers/readers. He has the inspiration needed to produce poetry that is enlived by suggested meanings. For example the first poet Valmiki was so saddened by the wailing of the curlew bird who had lost its mate that Valmiki's grief was transformed into the tragic rasa of the Ramayana (p 18 intro).


Ananda maintained that rasa could not be directly expressed but is dependent upon suggestion (dhavani). It is through suggestion (dhavani) that rasa arises (rasadhavani). Beauty of poetry by which the reader is delighted, the flavor (rasa) comes through the judgment of the heart and although this may be elusive, it may be defined and clarified as arising through specific qualities and elements.
For example in the expression " Only when flavoured by the rays of the sun are lotuses lotuses." Implies that with the light of the sun on the lotus the full beauty of the object becomes evident. The words then become enveloped in an emotional atmosphere that moves the meaning from a literal sense to an evocative sense of implied beauty that when felt through the refined sensibility of the reader becomes a joyous experience the true purpose of poetry "the bliss [which arises] in the hearts of sensitive readers". (p 68)

Where the poet and the reader connect is as Abhinava defines literary sensitivity (sahrdayatva) as the faculty of entering into identity with the heart of the poet ( p 72). In Abhinavas theory vastudhavani and alankaradhavani are merely parts of poetry being superior to direct designation but not being the real soul of poetry, which is rasachavani.

To create poetry that reaches a point of excellence it was considered that there must be appropriate matching of the emotions, the determinants and the consequents for the rasa to arise. The other attributes of poetry such as alamkara figures of speech support were secondary but contribute to the strengthening of the experience of rasa. What Ananda proposed, Abhinava elaborated and clarified. In only one major point did Abhinava differ from Ananda and that is discussion of the emotion of the poet. This interesting difference is that were Ananda viewed the melting of experience in the poet and outflowing of this empathy as inspired poetic form in words this role of the poet was defined by Abhinava as a more impersonal and generalized state of creative intercessor in the removal of the author from the emotion and sympathy of the experience into a position of a more impersonal observer expressing human experience in poetry as an intermediary and in this point his views differ from that of the rasa theory as proposed by Ananda.

These blog comments express only a small portion of the interesting reading we had this week but perhaps one of the aspects I enjoyed most was the respect and reverence the writers of Indian aesthetics confer to the sensitivity (sahrdayatva) of the heart of the reader a most subtle and refined analysis of the transformative quality of poetry.