Samira Sinha
Assistant Professor, University Department of English Ranchi University, Ranchi, India.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21659/jsae/v1n2/v1n202
[Article History: Received: 15 Jun 2024. Revised: 25 Jul 2024. Accepted: 10 Aug 2024. Published: 24 Aug 2024]
Abstract
In the rich heritage of literary theory and criticism of the Indian Knowledge System, we have seven different approaches to evaluating literary works. Theories such as Rasa (Bharata), Alankara (Bhamaha), Guna (Dandin), Riti (Vamana), Dhwani (Anandavardhana), Vakrokti (Kuntaka) and Auchitya (Khemendra) are some of the sharpest and subtlest contributions of Indian Poetics to the understanding and evaluation of works of art. The theoreticians are called the originators as they established new dogmas in Sanskrit poetics. While the ‘Rasa’ theory concerned itself with aesthetic effect, ‘Alankara’ with figures of speech, modes, and devices, ‘Riti’ with stylistic values, and ‘Guna -Dosha’ with excellence and defects, ‘Dhwani’ deals with the aesthetic suggestiveness of words which bursts (‘sphota’) upon or stimulates the ‘sahridaya’ (sensitive/ responsive) reader or listener. The aesthetic pleasure (Dhwanyarasa), which is an essential characteristic of all good literature, springs from this.
Anandavardhan, a Kashmiri poet-critic of the ninth century A.D., unified criticism by taking poetry and drama together and applying to all genres of literature the same principles of analysis and evaluation. To formulate his theory of Dhwani he considered a question that is fundamental to all critical analysis: How do words convey their meaning? He considered the signifier and the signified by differentiating them broadly into the primary and the implied. To be more specific, these were the ‘abhidha’ (literal), ‘lakshana’ (indicated) and ‘vyanjana’ (suggested) meanings of words. Anandavardhan implied that the role of ‘vyanjana’, or suggested meaning of words is central to the richness of poetry; that it is the soul of poetry. For a long, we have been applying Western critical theories to our evaluation of literature including Indian writing in English and even regional literature in translation. A study of literature from the standpoint of our fine-tuned ancient theories of aesthetics would perhaps yield rich dividends in terms of interpretation. This paper proposes to examine some famous works of British literature and Indian writing in English from the perspective of the critical theory of ‘Dhwani’.
Keywords: Aesthetics, Dhwani, meaning, sphota, sahridaya, suggestiveness.