Indian Poetics

This blog is a response to the thinking activity assigned by Dr Dilip Barad sir. In this blog, I am going to present my understanding of 'Indian Poetics'. Which include various schools like Rasa, Dhvani, Alankaar, Auchitya, Vakrokti, and, Riti. Every year our department arranges expert lectures on Indian Poetics by Dr Vinod Joshi sir.

Indian Poetics broadly developed into eight schools - Rasa, Alankara, Riti, Guna/Dosa, Vakrokti, Svabhavokti, Aucitya and Dhvani - corresponding roughly to the western theory of Pleasure, Rhetoric/Figures of speech, Theory of Form, Oblique poetry, Statement poetry, Propriety and Suggestion. 

The central tradition of  Indian aesthetics originating in  Bharata,  the first and the oldest known exponent of the dramaturgic school of rasa, enriched by Anandavardhana, an exponent of dhvani theory, Bhamaha, an exponent of the alankara system,  Kuntaka,  the main proponent of  Vakrokti,  Vamana,  the most notable exponent of aucitya codified by  Mammata,  Viswanatha and Jaganatha is a veritable treasure house of insights into problems related to the creation, analysis and evaluation of works of literature.

The Indian aesthetics/poetics and western poetics are similar but they differ according to their region, culture, myths and legends. They may differ in many ways but in the end, as the theory of archetype suggests, our bone stricture is the same so in the end, it is the same.

Major schools, thinkers, and texts

Schools	Thinker(s)	Text(s)
Rasa	Bharata	Natyasastra (second century B.C.)
	Dhanika-Dhananjaya	Dasarüpaka (tenth century A.D.)
Alamkara	Bhamaha	Kavyalamkara (sixth century A.D.)
	Dandin	Kavyadarşa (seventh century A.D.)
	Udbhata	Kavyalamkārasārasamgraha (ninth century A.D.)
	Rudrata	Kavyalamkara (ninth century A.D.)
Riti	Vamana	Kavyalamkarasutra (ninth century A.D.)
Dhvani	Anandavardhana	Dhvanyaloka (ninth century A.D.)
	Abhinavagupta	Abhinavabharati (also for rasa theory)
	Mahimabhatta	Vyaktiviveka (eleventh century A.D.)
Vakrokti	Kuntaka	Vakroktijivita (eleventh century A.D.)
Guna-Dosa	Dandin	Kavyadarşa (listed above)
	Bhamaha	Kavyalamkara (listed above)
Aucitya	Ksemendra	Aucityaviramarca (eleventh century A.D.)

The eight rhetorical Sentiments (Rasas) recognised in drama and dramatic representation are named, Erotic, Pathetic, Furious, Heroic, Terrible, Odious, and Marvellous. The rasas are created by abiding mental states (sthayibhava). The abiding mental states are 

Love: [Śṛṅgāra (શ્રુંગાર)] 

Laughter: [Hāsya (હાસ્ય)]

Sorrow: [Kāruṇya (કારુણ્ય)]

Anger: [Raudra (રોદ્ર)]

Energy: [Veer (વીર)]

Fear: [Bhayānaka (ભયાનક)]

Disgust: [Bībhatsa (બીભત્સ)]

Astonishment: [Adbhuta (અદ્ભુત)]

Peace: Santa (શાંત) rasa: A ninth rasa was added by later authors.