Rasa, Dhwani and Auchitya—some additional materials--Criticism & Theory

Rasa, Dhwani and Auchitya—some additional materials

Materials taken from a project summited to the UGC
S. Sreekumar

Bharatha’s Rasa, Anandavardhana’s Dhwani and Kshemendra’s Aucitya are considered the cardinal concepts of Indian Aesthetics by many Indian aestheticians like C.D. Narasimhaiah (East West Poetics at Work) and V. Raghavan (Some Concepts of Alankarasastra). Kapil Kapoor also endorses the importance of these concepts in no uncertain terms (Literary Theory: Indian Conceptual Framework)            

2.1 Rasa theory

Rasa is produced from a combination of determinants (vibhavas), consequents (anubhavas) and transitory states. Is there any dristanta for it?

DHVANI or “Suggestive Poetry”--Indian Aesthetics

 DHVANI or “Suggestive Poetry”--Indian Aesthetics

The kind of poetry where the conventional meaning is secondary or the conventional meaning of the words becomes secondary and the implied meaning becomes more important is called DHVANI or “Suggestive Poetry’.

· Explicit meaning is not very important in suggestive poetry.

· Simile and alliteration make the explicit meaning or sound important and cannot be called suggestive poetry.

· Suggestion is conditioned by only the relation between the suggested and the person or thing that suggests. It is never found in the beauty of the expressed and the expression.

Some people may argue that suggestion can be brought under    such figures of speech as Condensed Metaphor, Paraleipsis, Metonymy, Periphrasis, Fancied Denial, Ellipsis, implying a simile, and merging of figures, since we have a clear perception of the implicit meaning in these. It is in order to refute such as argument that the words, ‘renders itself or its meaning secondary’ etc have been included in the text.