Reading Lake Poets through the Rasa Aesthetics of Abhinavagupta

Authors

  • Parth Joshi Assistant Professor of English, Christ College, Rajkot.

Keywords:

Aesthetics, Rasa, Lake Poets, Sahridaya, Shānta Rasa

Abstract

Rasa theory, very often ascribed to Bharata who was its first exponent, and Nātyashastra which is the most fundamental and significant of all texts pertaining to Rasa school, many a time tends to neglect the contribution of the Kashmiri Shaivite scholar Abhinavagupta of the 10th century. Abhinavagupta, though he was not the first proponent of Rasa theory, cannot be overlooked within the whole discourse of Indian Aesthetics because of his contribution in two chief areas: Rasa theory through his work Abhinavabhārati and Dhvani theory through Dhvanyālokalochana. This paper aims at bringing forth those aspects of Rasa theory which are to be attributed exclusively to the unsung hero Abhinavagupta viz. the concept of Sahridaya, Shānta Rasa, obstacles (vighna) to Rasa realization etc. An attempt has been made to explain and illustrate these aesthetic principles through selected poems of Lake poets – Wordsworth, Coleridge and Keats, which would probably be more helpful to the beginners of English literature.

Author Biography

Parth Joshi, Assistant Professor of English, Christ College, Rajkot.

Parth Joshi is currently serving as an Asst Professor (English) at Christ College, Rajkot, and is a research scholar at the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, Saurashtra University. He was a gold medallist in his MA and has also cleared UGC-NET in his first attempt. His research interests include Literary Theory and Criticism and Indian Aesthetics.

References

Gnoli, Ranerio. The Aesthetic Experience according to Abhinavagupta. Varanasi: Chowkhambha Sanskrit Series, 1985.

Kapoor, Kapil. Literary Theory: Indian Conceptual Framework. New Delhi: East West Press Pvt Ltd, 2013.

Patnaik, Priyadarshi. Rasa in Aesthetics. New Delhi: D K Printworld Pvt Ltd, 2013.

Thampi, Mohan. “The Obstacles to Aesthetic Experience”. (ed. Sethuraman, V S. Indian Aesthetics.) New Delhi: Macmillan, 2011.

Sreekantaiyya, T N. Indian Poetics (trans. N Balasubramanya). New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2001.

Poetry excerpts taken from https://www.poetryfoundation.org

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Published

01.07.2019

How to Cite

Parth Joshi. (2019). Reading Lake Poets through the Rasa Aesthetics of Abhinavagupta. Journal of Teaching and Research in English Literature, 10(3), 2–6. Retrieved from https://journals.eltai.in/index.php/jtrel/article/view/35

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 3 (2019): July

Section

Research Articles

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