ENLIGHTENING FLAVORClassical Indian Concepts in Art and Rasa

BHARTṚHARI

The Creative Flash of Understanding

The meaning of the

sentence as a flash of

insight (pratibha) is

described—when the word-

meanings in a sentence are

detached (from out of the

sentence) and (thus)

understood, a different

flash of insight is produced

(out of it) T

–Bhartṛhari Vākyapadīya

143

Glancing at the amaranth’s glossing sprays

glowing in exquisite loveliness, just-revealed,

–loveliness that rightly belongs to the beloved’s

face–

how can a sensitive heart not flutter in pain

stung by proud Love’s flying arrows, my love?

—Kalidasa, The Gathering of the Seasons

(Rtusamharam), 18

That (flash of insight)

presented by the word-

meanings is described as

the meaning of the

sentence. It is by no means

describable to others in

such terms as "it is like this"

Having been formed from

the function of one's inner

self, its nature is not known

even to the person.

–Bhartṛhari Vākyapadīya

144

[Glancing at ((the amaranth’s glossing sprays)

glowing in exquisite loveliness)]

It effects the fusion of the

(individual) word-meanings,

without itself being logically

thought out, and it is

comprehended as

seemingly taking the form

of the collection (of the

word-meanings).

–Bhartṛhari Vākyapadīya

145

She will come into your view absorbed

in the day’s rites of worship or drawing my

likeness

imagined wasted by separation

or asking the melodious songster in the cage,

sweet one, do you remember our lord?

You were a favorite with him.

—Kalidasa, The Cloud Messenger

(Meghadutam), 84

or asking the melodious

songster in the cage,

sweet one, do you remember

our lord?

You were a favorite with him.

In the matter of the

knowledge of what to do,

no one transgresses it (i e

this flash of insight) which

is either produced directly

from speech or is a result of

recollection. The whole

world looks upon it as

authority (for their conduct )

Even in animals the

knowledge of the beginning

of behavior dawns by virtue

of it.

–Bhartṛhari Vākyapadīya

146-7

And this (flash of insight)

arises from precepts

accompanied by

recollection The precept is

qualified by either proximity

or distance (That is, it may

be of the near past, or of

ancient times).

–Bhartṛhari Vākyapadīya

151-4

The impassioned loverhaving passed some

months

on that hill, parted from her unsupported

—the golden armlet slipping down

to lay bare his wasted forearm—

saw on Asadha’s most auspicious day

a cloud embracing the crest of a hill,

strikingly shaped like a sportive elephant

bent down to butt a river bank

—Kalidasa, The Cloud Messenger

(Meghadutam) 2

That flash of insight is

considered to be of six

lands, as obtained (1 ) by

nature (2) by action (3) by

practice (4) by meditation

(5) by invisible causes and

(6) as handed down by the

wise—(similarly) although a

word functions as denoting

an object, which is

associated with shape,

color and parts, it does not

denote these (as part of its

meaning)

–Bhartṛhari Vākyapadīya

151-4

a cloud embracing the crest of a hill,

strikingly shaped like a sportive elephant

bent down to butt a river bank

—that through the

instrumentality of the

scent of a jasmine, or of a

lotus flower, the

accompanying which are

invariably associated with

the scent, are also

apprehended. The word

("water") functions as

denoting water whether it

is a drop or a mass—

without reference to

attributes, number,

quantity and location

–Bhartṛhari Vākyapadīya

157-8

Having rested, go on, sprinkling with fresh

raindrops

clusters of jasmine-buds in the gardens by

woodland streams,

enjoying a fleeting togetherness

as your gift of shade touches

the faces of flower gathering maidens, who

each time they wipe the sweat off their cheeks,

bruise

the wilting lotuses hung at their ears

—Kalidasa, The Cloud Messenger (Meghadutam)

28

The burnt man understands

burning in a certain way

from his (direct) contact

with fire, but the meaning

burning is conveyed by the

word in a different way. The

meaning of the sentence is

grasped as of the nature of

a synthesis, when the

individual word-meanings

are in mutual association.

Its essential nature is not

presented (at the individual

word-meanings)

A preception is not identical

with its actual constituents

(the sense-data), and

similarly that formless one

(the meaning of the

sentence) is understood m

the form of the synthesis of

the word-meanings

–Bhartṛhari Vākyapadīya

418-22

BHARTṚHARI—PRATIBHĀ

Pratibhā is an ineffable intuitive understanding

co-originating from the logico-linguistic

apprehension of the meaning of a thing.

REFLECTIONS

What aesthetic terms would you use to describe Swades or the music in

the film?

Where would Bharata place Swades in his list of rasa? Where would

you? What inflections (other rasas) might Bharata make on the primary

rasa? You?

Is Swades more heroic or marvelous, in Bharata’s senses of the terms?

What is the relation between rasa and pratibha? How do each apply (or

not) to Gowariker and his film? To your experience of the film?

Compare and contrast the film scene in Swades with the drama scene.

Consider how to describe them in terms of pratibha.

ABHINAVAGUPTA

A Flash of Insight for Art

Abhinanavagupta on Rasa and Prathiba

the words of the poem. The qualified person is in this case any person whose heart possesses a spotless power of intuition (pratibhana). In such there appears … immediately after the perception

Abhinanavagupta on Poetic Sight

f eyesight being of use to the poet in observing the world before describing it). Nor is actual eyesight (wholly intended) and subservient to some other suggested sense. Rather the literal meaning passes over into the meaning of ‘poetic vision’ that is

The Birth of a Rasa

The Birth of a Rasa