The Aesthetic Experience According to Abhinavagupta by Raniero Gnoli

Review by: Clay Lancaster

Artibus Asiae, Vol. 20, No. 2/3 (1957), pp. 220-222
Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3249400 .
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The plan and treatment of India's history are tradi-
tional, and the flavour is that of the nineteen-thirties.
On modern India, Warren Hastings has a chapterto
himself, Wellesley, Bentinck, Dalhousie, Ripon and
Curzon rather less; Gokhale, Tilak still less; and
Bankim ChandraChatterjiis dismissed in a line.
A great deal of hard work has gone into this substan-
tial volume, which, with its rich variety of photo-
graphs and maps, may well serve as a textbook, al-
though it in no way replacesthe best among published
textbooks on this subject.
C. H. Philips
RanieroGnoli, The AestheticExperienceAccordingto
Abhinavagupta (RomeOrientalSeriesXI), Rome,19y6,
XXXII + 12f pp. L. 3.ooo ($ 4-74).
By a pupil of Dr. Giuseppe Tucci, Professor of Re-
ligion and Philosophy of India and the Far East at the
University of Rome, and Director of the Rome Ori-
ental Series, which has published ten previous studies
on South Asian subjects and announces publication
of half again that number of works as forthcoming or
in course of preparation,the present book deals with
an early eleventh-century Indian treatise discussing
the nature of aesthetic experience. The essay was
written by a native of Kashmir, one Abhinavagupta,
as part of a commentaryon the Nd.tya Sistra (A.D.
IV-V Cent.), attributedto Bharata,which volume is
entitled the Abhinavabharati. Mr.Gnoli's edition in-
cludes a short preface listing Western sources re-
producing or drawing upon Abhinavagupta's writ-
ing, an introduction summarizingits main thoughts,
the Sanskrittext itself in romanletters, his own trans-
lation with notes, two brief appendices - one on
dramaas a form of re-perceptionand the other defin-
ing aesthetic experience - from elsewhere in the
Abhinavabharati, and an index.
Abhinavagupta undoubtedly was a prolific essayist,
judging from his allusions to having written more
complete analyses (now lost) of tangential topics
touched upon in this commentary.As in the case of
Aristotle the known composition of Abhinavagupta
on aestheticsis only a fractionof his total output; and,
by coincidence, the surviving books of both men on
the subjecthave to do with drama- the first section
of Aristotle's Poeticsconcernedwith tragedy, and the
of Hemacan-
x Rasiklal C. Parikh (ed.), The Kdvydnuzdsana
dra, Bombay, 1938; R. Shama Sastry (ed.), The Kdvya-
prakdia of Mammatawith the Commentaryby Mdinikya-
candra,Mysore, 1922.
220
Abhinavabharati, determined by the viewpoint and
scope of the N.tya considering drama as an
Sstra,
ideal art form in being a synthesis of the visual and
aural arts.
Abhinavagupta'sdiscourseis importantbecauseof its
impact upon Indian thinking about aesthetics
throughout the last thousand years.Among the early
followers it was summarizedin the fourth chapter of
Mammata'sKdvyaprakdia, and reproduced in its en-
in the vivekaadded to Hemacandra'sKdvyanuiJ-
tirety
sana (XII Cent.). Mdnikyacandra(XIII Cent.) copied
and simplified the vivekain his exposition on the
Mammataessay, thus perpetuating Abhinavagupta's
ideas. These works have been translatedinto English
and publishedin Indiain moderntimes.I The Abhina-
vagupta commentaryitself first was edited by Sushil
Kumar De for inclusion as an appendix, called "The
Theory of Rasa," in the third of the Sir Asutosh
Mookerjee Silver Jubilee volumes.2 In 1926 it was
published a second time by Manavalli Ramakrishna
Kavi in the Gaekwad Oriental Series (Baroda).3It
came to light again in the Hemacandravivekaof 1938,
alreadymentioned. Selectedpassagesfrom the Abhina-
vabharatiwere quoted in Kanti Chandra Pandey's
book, IndianAesthetics,published in Banarasin 1950.
Mr.Gnoli has corrected mistakes appearing in his
predecessors' versions, and he supplies the initial
notes to the translation.
One cannot help being impressed by the subtlety of
thought of medieval Indian philosophers, critically
analyzingthat of the ancient sages and entering upon
more specializedthemes. Among the keenerand more
erudite minds was that of Abhinavagupta.He super-
imposes his conclusions atop an edifice built upon the
thinking of several important forerunners: the near-
legendary Bharata(? IV Cent.), Dandin (VII Cent.),
Bhatta Lollata and Safikuka (IX Cent.) - the last
two, like Abhinavagupta,flourishing in Kashmir -
and Bhatta Ndyaka, the greatest of them all, from
whom Abhinavagupta (born second half X Cent.)
intellectuallyinherited the most. Also quoted, in one
instance, is the sixth-century poet and dramatist,
Kdlidisa, author of the famous ?akuntala (p. 74).
The bulk of Abhinavagupta's discussion has to do
with a phenomenon called "Rasa."The Sanskritterm
is familiarto Western readersthrough the writings of
2 Vol. III, Orientalia,
part2, pp. 240-253 (Calcutta,1921-
I927).
3 Vol. I, no. XXXVI, pp. 274-287.
Coomaraswamy,Tagore, Anand and others,4 under-
stood to mean "juice" or "flavor," the tasting of
which is aesthetic experience. Bharataspoke of Rasa
a millennium and a half ago,s thus touching off a fire
onto which his successors were to heap variant and
abundant fuel. The early master accepted eight di-
visions of Rasa,correspondingto the principalhuman
feelings - delight, laughter, sorrow, anger, heroism,
fear, disgust and astonishment (termed Permanent
Mental States) - which he consideredborn from the
union of the play with the performanceof the actors.
Bhatta Lollata interpreted this to mean that Rasa is
an ordinarymovement of the mind intensifiedby the
drama. Safikuka disagreed with both, looking upon
Rasa rather as an imitated state of mind, that is, the
spectator absorbing what the actor imitates in the
characterhe portrays.The audiencedoes not consider
the play to be either real or unreal, but a thing apart.
These theories in turn were criticized by Bhatta
Ndyaka, who said, "Rasa is not perceived, nor pro-
duced, nor manifested" (p. 50). He believed the es-
sence of Rasa to be a pleasurewhich has no relation-
ship with the particularindividual, neither with his
life, the life of the actor, nor with that of the fictitious
hero of the play. "Rasa," therefore, is "enjoyed with
a kind of enjoyment, differentfrom direct experience,
memory, etc.," which "is of the same order as the
Tasting of the supreme brahman"(pp. 54, 56). This
critic was perhaps the first to associate aestheticwith
mystical experiences.Thus the various kinds of Rasa
are brought about through the power of revelation.
Having reviewed the concepts of his precursors,some
of which have been found faulty and others lacking
in precise definition, Abhinavagupta interrupts the
essay by supposing someone to have asked: "what is
the true nature of Rasa?" (p. 6z). He finds it quite ac-
ceptable that Bharata considered Rasa to be the es-
sence (finalcause) of poetry. At this point he embarks
upon the exposition of his own thesis.
Not everyone has the intrinsic capacityto taste poetic
works. The qualified person is he whose heart pos-
sesses a mirror-likepower of intuition, that soars into
the rarefiedatmospherebeyond the particularand the
4 Principallythrough Ananda K. Coomaraswamy,The
Dance of Shiva (14 Indian Essays), New York, 1918,
Bombay, etc., 1948, 1952, "Hindu View of Art: Theory
of Beauty," pp. 52-60; Rabindranath Tagore, Person-
ality, London, 1948, pp. 14-15; and Mulk Raj Anand,
The Hindu View of Art, London, 1933, PP. [145]-165.
See also note -'z2.
221
limited, becoming absorbed in a state of conscious-
ness free of obstacles. One is hinderedfrom attaining
the full benefits of Rasa by any of several disturbing
elements in one's own makeup, in his receptive fac-
ulties, or in the presentationitself, these being (i) in-
sufficient means of verisimilitude on the part of the
perceiver, (z) self-centered determination, (3) self-
centeredpleasures, (4) defective means of perception,
(5) shortcomings in the contents of the production,
(6) the emotional objective of the play lost sight of,
and (7) the play gone limp through lack of real con-
viction in what is transpiring. The personal limita-
tions can be overcome through one "possessing
heart," which becomes "the seed in him, from which
the Tasting of the Rasa will develop" (p.99). Else-
where the author says that aesthetic experienceis es-
pecially inviting to people endowed with "gentle
mind." The Tasting he refers to is distinguishable
from the ordinary means of cognition (direct per-
ception), from cognition without active participation
of the thoughts of others (extra-sensoryreception),
and from mystical experiences (immaculateconcep-
tion), in that these three are devoid of contact with
beauty inherent in the artistic creation. The quality
referredto, intrinsic in any fine work of art, such as
a poem or play, is transferredvia the reciter or actor
to the listeners. "Born in the heart of the poet, it
flowers, as it were, in the actor and bears fruit in the
spectator" (p. XXVIII).
The author of the Abhinavabbaratirecapitulates:
"what is aroused.., .is simply the Tasting; the form
of existence.., .of this Tasting, is called Rasa," by
which he seems to mean that Rasa is the perception
of an entity containing beauty and does not denote
anything distinct from that special brand of percep-
tion. During the spectaclethe spectatorforgets about
the transitory, everyday existence. Through becom-
ing immersed in the pleasurablefactors composing
the dramahe enters a differentworld, one outside of
space and time, and partakesof a consciousness that
remains deeply fixed in the heart. He experiences
Rasa.
The editor concludes his own observations on the
5 Introduced to the West by M. Paul Regnaud, "Le Dix-
septieme Chapitredu Bharatiya-Ndtya(astra...", An-
nales, Musde Guimet, Paris, Vol. I, pp. 85-99 (188o);
Vol. II, pp. [65]-I3o (i88i). Another early version:
Joanny Grosset, BhdratSia-Natya-(7dstram, Paris, 1898
(Lyon, Universit6, Annales,Vol. XL).
treatise: "The conception of art as an activity and an
independent spiritual experience, freed of practical
interest[s], which the intuition of Kant perceived for
the West, was already,in Ioth century India, an ob-
ject of study and controversy. Poetry, said Ananda-
vardhana and Abhinavagupta[,] is inextinguishable:
it exists and will exist for ever. Like love, it has kin-
dled and will continue to kindle the hearts of man
with new and pulsing life; it is an essential and in-
dependent part of human nature and the poets, who
will never cease to tap its source, far from exhausting
it, only purify and enrichit with new and ever-chang-
ing experiences" (p. XXXII).
English-speaking orientalistsare, of course, grateful
for this and other contributions come from the
presses sponsored by the Rome Oriental Series. We
appreciate the difficulties involved in employing
printers to set type in foreign tongues, and therefore
must overlook the numerous typographicerrors and
irregularitiesof hyphenation, barely half exposed on
an accompanying corrigenda sheet. This reviewer
feels that the editors would find little trouble in so-
liciting aid on proofreading by capable, interested
English or Americans,whose rewardwould be purely
the satisfaction of helping along such a worthwhile
cause.
Clay Lancaster
Bendapudi Subbarao, ThePersonalityofIndia,a Studyin the
Developmentof Material Cultureof India andPakistan,
Facultyof Arts, MaharajaSqyajiroUniversityof Baroda,
Baroda,1976.
This volume may easilyfinda more competentreview-
er, but not a more enthusiasticone. The title constitu-
tes a temporaryanswerto a question once askedby Sir
Mortimer Wheeler. As the "spiritualfather" of this
study, he has given it a sympatheticsend-off.
One might expect that the personalityof India would
be based on manifestationsof prehistory.Information
about this is scatteredthrough the issues of "Ancient
India" and other periodicals. The author brings it all
together for the first time and welds it into a unit. He
illustrateshis statementsby a profusionof maps,distri-
bution charts, line drawings and synoptic tables. La-
cunaedue to the insufficiencyof fieldworkareacknow-
ledged throughout the book.
The authorbegins his surveywith the Paleolithic,"the
least developed branch of Indian archeology". He
contraststhe Sohanindustryof the North with that of
Madras in the South, neither of which fit into the
mould of Old World classification. With the later
222
Stone Age, andwith the Microlithsof the Neolithic, he
covers almost all of the sub-continent. The most in-
teresting chapters are devoted to the Proto-Historic
and Early Historic periods. These cultures are listed
not only in the usual vertical sequence, but to some
extent at least,in a horizontalcorrelation.Some extend
theirdominationgraduallyin space.Othersareunrela-
ted. Some disappearunderthe impact of ethnic move-
ments. Others survive for a long time in isolated
pockets. One knows, for instance, more about north
and centralIndia than about the south.
The earlybronzecultureof the IndusValleyurbansites
presents no problem. The last phase, named after its
type site, Harappa, is now extended in time until
shortly afterthe middle of the Second MilleniumB. C.
From there on, the survey depends almost exclusively
on ceramics.There are first the ochre-washedwares,
followed by paintedgraypottery, the lattertentatively
equated with the Aryan immigrants. Red and black
pottery emergedin the second half of the first Milleni-
um B.C., in north India; and about the same time,
"Northern Black Polished Ware" appearedalong the
basin of the Ganges. This NBP, as it is called, con-
tinued until the First CenturyB. C. Firm ground is rea-
ched by the First CenturyA.D., where one may find
the rouletted and painted pottery, the latter called
"Andhra". The megaliths of the North and Center,
often attributedto the Dravidians,still pose a problem
in dating. This is especiallyso, for they continue long
into the earlyhistoric period. The emergence of large
agricultural communities in the South, again with
megalithic monuments,is still a riddle.
The reviewer has tried to retrace only a few lines of
Subbarao'sforcibly complicated evolution. Enough,
he hopes, to encourageothers to read this fascinating
book. The personalityof Indiaemergesfrom its pages,
not with obscureaesteticglamour,but with the authen-
ticity of sober research.What a relief!
Alfred Salmony
P. R. Ramachandra Rao - The Art of NigdrjunikonIa.
XII + 34yP. F6 pits., I map and 3 plans, Rachana,
Madras,i9y;, price ? 7-Is-6d.
The authorof the book underreview is alreadyknown
for his work on modern Indian painting. In the pre-
sent volume he deals with the architectureand sculp-
ture of Ndgdrjunakonda,the ancient Vijayapuri,capi-
tal of the Iksvdkuswho became independentrulersin
the beginning of the 3rd century A. D.
After the site was discovered in I926 excavations