Indian Poetics: Thinking Activity

Hello Friends ,

Indian poetics :

                 In this blog I would like to share some of my knowledge and understanding on Indian Poetics which I study from the famous gujrati Poet Vinod Joshi.

Literary Theory :

         When we are going to study about theory, it is important to know the names of them.This theory are given by the great thinker and they also talk about them in details in their work so here is the table in which I put the detail about the theory. 

what is poetics ?

             Dramatics and Indian mythology began with Bharatmuni. He noted Sach eminent poets.There is one major difference between Indian Poetics and Western theory of criticism and that is...

                  "Western Criticism deals with the influence of the work of art and it's Ultimate Aim. While Indian Criticism deals with the process of work of art. In the world Criticism Indian Criticism is Unique."

Modern scholars has established following schools and theories :-

( 1) The Rasa theory

(2) The Alamkara theory

(3) The Dhvani theory

(4) The vakrokti theory

(5) The Riti theory

(6) The Aucitya theory

School of Rasa Theory :-

In the sixth chapter of "Natyashastra" Bharatmuni give the definition for nine kinds of Rasas…

                   " विभावानूभावव्यभिचारी 

                       संयोगात रस निष्पति।।"

T. N. Shreekantaiyya says that, “The principle of Rasa is the very central part of Indian poetics. It is the nectar that founders or thinkers have obtained after churning the ocean of poetry.”

What is RASA THEORY ? 

“A blending ofr various Bhavas arise certain emotion, accomplice by thrill and a sense of joy is Rasa.” In the sixth chapter of Natyashashtra he explains NATYARASA and RASA as the soul of poetry.

                      He has mentioned nine Rasas in Natysastra with its colour and god.

 ‍       श्रृंगार-वीर-करुणाद्भुत-हास्य-भयानका: । 

 ‍     बीभत्सरौद्रौ शान्‍तश्‍च रसा: नव प्रकीर्तिता: ।।

NINE RASA and BHAVA :

1]રતિ / ક્ષુંગાર ( Erotic)

2] શોક / કરૂણા (Pathetic )

3 ] ઉત્સાહ / વીર (Heroic)

4] ક્રોધ / રૌંદ્ર ( Furious )

5] હાસ / હાસ્ય ( Comic)

6] ભય / ભયાનક ( Terrible )

7] જુગુપ્સા / બીભત્સ ( Odious )

8] વિસ્મય / અદ્ભૂત ( Marvellous)

9] શમ/ નિર્વેદ / શાંત (Peace )

             Worthy to note that RASA comes out only because of these four BHAVAS Vibhav, Anubhav, Sancharibhav, Sthayibhav and Sthayibhav. Natysastra is foundation of fine arts in India.

"विभवानु भव व्यभिचारी संयोगात् रस निष्पत्ति।''

There are mainly four kinds of Emotions which are….

विभाव 

अनुभाव

संचारी भाव (व्यभिचारी भाव)

                        Basically specking, the Rasa theory was an attempt to learnt the emotional effect of drama.i.e. the nature of enjoyment experienced by the spectators. The basic purpose of the Rasa theory was find out the aesthetic thought of any literary work.

The Bhavas:-

                       They are the elements very much needed for the Rasa of poetry. They directly appeal to the heart of the readers. They can produce Rasa and they stand for emotions and hoods. They can be sthayi, vibhava, Anubhava, Vyabhichari and satvik.

Rasa is created only because of Vibhav , Anubhav and Vyabhicharibhava. VIBHAV is just like pilar of it and because of it Bhvak feels Rasa.Bharatmuni describes 33 Sancharibhava in Natyasastra.

Vibhav : Emotion arise because of Vibhav

Anubhav : Reaction of Bhavak

Sancharibhav : Come and go

Sthayibhav : like…. Love, Mirth, Sorrow ,etc….

                         According to critic Mohan Thamps ………..

“ Majority of the traditionalist; considers that nine rasas are enough to cope with infinite varity of literary production.”

Let's we talk about other Four Critics of RASA theory :-

1.Bhatta Lollata Creationism

2.Shree Shankuka Permissiveism

3.Bhatta Nayaka Nepotism

4.Abhinavagupta Expressionism

           For example of T.S.Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedrel, Film Mughal-E-Azam and Kalidasa’s Abhigyanshakuntalam and Malti madhav.

School of Dhvani Theory :-

 

 Anandvardhan was a pioneer of this theory.Anandvardhan's theory of Dhvani has changed Indian Poetics in its essanse. The word Dhvani means 'sound' or 'tone'. In language sound carries a meaning. A word in its basic grammatical sense is a combination of letters. The Sanskrit grammarians argue that the letters are not the ultimate cause of meaning. Thus they discovered a distinct entity called sphota(sign). They argue that meaning is indeed signified by the sound which becomes the meaning of the word.

            

                     The Central idea of the theory of Dhvani is that words in their capacity of conveying sense. He talk about threefold sense which are અભિધા(denotation), લક્ષણા (indication), વ્યંજના (suggestion).

 

1)Abhidha is basic and other two saktis rest upon it. Abhidha may be defined as that power of words which conveys the conventional meaning or the literal meaning of the expression.

2)Laksana is the second power of the word is, it is indication power. It consists in the external characteristics of the expression which are indicative of something deeper.

3)Vyanjana is the third power which means what is suggestive.

શબ્દશક્તિઃ

અભિધાઃ જે સીધો અર્થ આપે તે અભિધા

 લક્ષણાઃ જે નજીક નો અર્થ આપેલ તે લક્ષણા

વ્યંજનાઃ જે હોય એના કરતા કોઈ અન્ય જ અર્થ કે કોઈ બીજો જ અર્થ નિષ્પન્ન કરે તે વ્યંજના

                 for examples:-

એક બિલાડી જાડી - અભિધા

તેણે પહેરી સાડી - લક્ષણા

તળાવમાં તો મગર - વ્યંજના

It is noted worthy that Anandvardhana uses the term dhvani for his theory of Poetic suggestion. He believes that suggestion is the soul of poetry. He says that beutiful ideas in poetry are two kinds; litearal and implied.

According to Anandvardhana, the person who knows the essanse of poetry can get the implied meaning.

 i.e. the most important element in poetry, a solu of poetry.

       

School of Alamkara Theory :-

" Bhamaha " is the first Alamkara poetician. In chapters 2 and 3 of " Kavyalamkara "he describes 24 figures of speech. There are two types of Alamkaras.

1. Shabdalamkara :- Shabda + Alamkar (The meaning of sound.)

2. Arthalamkara :- Artha + Alamkar ( The meaning of word & thoughts.)

  In this school Bharata give four figure of in his work Natyashastra, he mentioned this four figure in the 17th chapter;

1 Upama 

2 Rupak 

3 Dipak 

4 Yamak 

    Acharya Mammat gave his views and he worked on this as well. He enumerates sixty one figures and group them into seven types:

Upama (simile) 

Rupaka (metaphor)

Aprastut prasansa (indirect speech) 

Dipaka (stringed figure)

Vyatireka( dissimilitude) 

Virodha (contradiction)

Samuccaya (concatenation) 

School of Vakrokti Theory :-

    This is also a important school in Indian poetic. Kuntak is the founder of Vakrokti school.He is author of Vakroktijivit'. 

      The word of vakrokti consist two words-Vakta and another one is Ukti. Vakra means zigzag not straight and Ukti means poetic expression speech. 

            

              Vakrokti :- Vakra + Ukti

                 Vakrokti manifested at six levels ;

1 .The phonetic level 

2 .The lexical level 

3 .The grammatial level 

4 .The sentiment level  

5 .The contextual level 

6 .The compositional level 

                                   Vakrokti theory is a useful framework for stylistic analysis of literature.

             Kuntak made Vakrokti a full -fledged theory of literariness.According to him Vakrokti is - "Both words and meanings marked by artistic turn of speech "

School of Riti Theory :-

   This school's exponent Vamana.He is author of Kavyalankara Sutravritti. According to Vamana Riti or Style or mode of expression is the soul of poetry.It is  arrangement of words. This is based on Gunas or on qualities like figure of speech. Both sound and sense which have a role to play to enhance the aesthetic of poem. 

                 रितीरआत्मा काव्यस्य।

  

                Here we can  Style is distinction between this two:

 1 .Vaidarbha style 

 2 .Gaudya style 

    In Dandin we find  the earlier partiality for Vaidarbha style and aversion to Other style named Gaudya style. According to Dandin Vaidharbha style is best for poetry and he says this style contains ten poetic qualities which are gives properly balance. They are mentioned here:

1.Ojas:  strength through the use of long compounds

2. Prasad:  clarity & lucidity

3. Shlesha:  well knittedness

4. Samata:  evenness of sound within a line

5. Samadhi:  ambivalence through the use of metaphors

6. Madhurya:  sweetness

7. Sukamarata: softness & delicacy

8. Udaratva:  exaltation

9. Arthavyakti: lucidity of meaning

10. Kanti: grace

    From all these, Phase, Madhurya and Prasad are very important. 

  (A )  Vaidarbha: According to vamana vaidarbha is that style which is untouched by even the slightest blemish, which is full of all the qualities and which is a scoot as the lute.

  (B)   Gaudiya style: The gaudiya style is characterized by Ojas and Kanti but it devoid of madhurya and  saukumaryo it is full of long  compound and bombastic words.

   (C)  Panchali : Panchali is the style which has the qualities of Madhurya  and saukumarya and is devoid of ojas and kanti. It is soft and resemble the puranic style. 

School of Auchitya Theory :-

        Auchitya in literary criticism had not appeared all of sudden but literary critics collect ingeniously materials from older literature and build their theories on them. Ksemendra likewise found the concept of Auchitya in earlier literature which he developed into an elaborate thesis. 

    

According to Kuntak Auchitya as guna a quality on account of which any Charming expression bring the excellence of the subject described. 

According to Ksemendra Auchitya resides in twenty eight place and also he appears to have been more or less inspired by approach of Kantaka in listing the place where vakrokti resides.

The concept of Auchitya could , perhaps, be understood as the sense of proportion between the whole (Angin) and the part (Anga) and harmony on one side; and, appropriateness and adaptation on the other.

It said; be it Alamkara or Guna, it will be beautiful and relishing if it is appropriate (Uchita) from the point of view of Rasa; and, they would be rejected if they are in- appropriate . And, what is normally considered a Dosha (flaw) might well turn into Guna (virtue) when it is appropriate to the Rasa

But, many are hesitant to accept Auchitya as the Atma of the Kavya. They point out that Auchitya by its very nature is something that attempts to bring refinement into to text; but, it is not an independent factor. And, it does not also form the essence of Kavya. Auchitya is also not a recognized School of Poetics.

Conclusion :

   

           Indian poetics in such concepts of very valuable tools of evolution of work of art and some other related things. Here most important that we are not evolution to only for in one theory. All of theorist has right and true of his own view and poetry and literature creator got idea that all over theory possible to use of most kind of work.