Sanskrit Poetics

A word-by-word explanation of the translation of the so-called creation hymn of Rigveda. The translation is very different from traditional ones.

As I demonstrate, the hymn has been completely misunderstood by previous translators.

The hymn has nothing to do with the origin or creation of the Universe. It is in fact, simply a prayer to God.

This is an excerpt from my book "Versified History of Sanskrit Poetics: The Soul is Rasa" (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2017) where I explain why I source the Dhvani theory in Bhartrhari's Sphota theory. I have seen some papers on Academia and elsewhere about the Sphota theory, most of which are rubbish, and so I wanted to cover the matter in a comprehensive yet short manner. I also highlight the underlying differences between the Kashmiri Shaivites' philosophy and Bhartrhari's. The scholars will find delight in my work. My special thanks go to Dr. Raffaele Torella, who is often cited here.

One of the still highly stimulating but problematic themes regarding Indian literature is the birth and genesis of the kāvya . For over forty years, eminent scholars have paid attention to this topic, providing a series of very interesting hypotheses. The purpose of my essay is to collaborate in this survey, also trying to supply alternative solutions to such a controversial issue.

A fresh and original translation from Sanskrit of the dashrajnya hymn (hymn 7.18 of Rig Veda) describing this defining battle between Aryan king Sudas and his Aryan as well as non-Aryan foes. The decisive battle led to the uprooting of many tribes from the Sapta Sindhu area.

Many existing beliefs are shown to be merely due to misunderstandings. Further, it is shown that the existing translations fall well short of the true meaning.
For example, no Matsya tribe was involved in this battle.

आनन्दवर्धन - अभिनवगुप्त- मुकुळभट्ट-मम्मटभट्टादिभिराचार्यैः  उपस्थापितानां लक्षणाव्यापारसम्बन्धिनां विचाराणाम् निरूपणम्  This paper analyses the discourse on the secondary function (lakshana) put forth in Sanskrit poetics. An attempt is made to anlayse the theories enunciated by stalwarts like Anandavardhana, Abhinavagupta, Mukulabhatta, Mammatabhatta and the later commentators, in Sanskrit language.

The Sanskrit treatise Nāṭyaśāstra is the most ancient and authoritative  Indian text on the arts. Some researchers, trying to single out the most ancient kernel  of the text, dated it to the 5th century BCE. Others, meaning the concluding stage of its  formation, by which the treatise had incorporated interpolations from different times,  proposed much later dates up to the 7th-8th centuries CE. It is widely believed that  the treatise acquired its modern form between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century  CE. Of an encyclopaedic scope, the Nāṭyaśāstra treats a great variety of topics and  comprises a manual for producers and performers, treatises on the theory of drama and  aesthetics, as well as the oldest poetic theory in the Indian tradition. The main aim of  this paper is to analyze the Nāṭyaśāstra as the earliest available source for the study of  the Ancient Indian poetics.

This is a poem in Sanskrit, Devanagari characters, on god-man (in other words holy man). It consists of sixteen verses composed in śālinī-vṛtta of the Triṣṭup metre. Who is a god-man? What are the salient features of a god-man? What are the disciplines to be followed by one who aspires to become a god-man? and such other thoughts form the content of the poem.

Kṙṡṅa's relationships with the Gopīs of Vraja, described in texts such as the Bhāgavata Purāṇa were controversial in the precolonial period. This paper first summarizes the teachings of Caitanya (1486-1534), the inaugurator of Gauḋīya Vaiṡṅavism who promoted the Purāṇa. The paper then discusses Rūpa's Ujjvalanīlamaṇi (sixteenth century) where he promotes Kṙṡṅa's paramourship in relation to the Gopīs. This is followed by an analysis of both Jīva's (sixteenth century) view on Kṙṡṅa's matrimony with the Gopīs and the refutation of Jīva's view in the Svakīyātvanirāsavicāra written by Viśvanātha Cakravartī (seventeenth century). By tracing the process of "transcreation" concerning Kṙṡṅa narratives, the paper demonstrates the complexity of this controversy, which continues even to the present day. In addition, the paper argues that the production of commentaries provided an intellectual outlet for Hindu theologians in early modern South Asia to express their own perspectives on controversial topics while remaining faithful within their tradition.

Sanskrit literary criticism for several years past and the material he has brought together here shows how extensive is his acquaintance with the literature in the subject. He draws his data, it will be seen, from unpublished manuscripts, as readily as he does from published works. The central problem investigated by Dr.Raghavan, in the present work, as the title indicates, is the number of Rasas accepted in Indian aesthetic tradition .Here the author discusses and evaluates a variety of opinions regarding Rasa, but the main problem discussed centers around the admissibility of Śānta as the ninth Rasa. There are, again, theoreticians who regard Rasas as many and as one. There are also attempts by theoreticians to accord sanction to other aesthetic states like Preyas, and Vātsalya .It is owing to the vast scholarship, astounding in its range, that Dr.Raghavan has been able to examine all these problems from historical and aesthetic angles. The work is divided into nine chapters. In the introductory chapter, Dr.Raghavan presents a historical resume of the problem of the number of Rasas from Bharata's time onwards .The second chapter gives a critical overview of all the views, pros and cons, regarding the admissibility of Śānta as a Rasa. The third chapter gives an account of some original views on Śānta like those of Rudrabhatta, Haripāladeva and some Jain authors. The fourth chapter examines the question of the basic mental state (Sthāyin) of Śānta, if it is accepted as a Rasa. The views discussed are those positing Śama, Samyagjnāna, and Trsnāksayasukha as Sthāyibhāva. The fifth chapter reproduces the text of Abhinavabharatī on Santarasa after correction of obvious misreadings which plague the reader. The sixth chapter refers to the question of other Rasas like Preyas and Vātsalya and also examines the controversy over them. The views discussed here include those of Lollata, Rudrata, Namisādhu, Bhoja, Jagannātha Pandita, Bopadeva, Hemādri and Madhusūdana Sarasvatī. The seventh chapter deals with the varieties of the same PAGE 5

The Kakawin Ramayana, arguably the oldest Old Javanese epic text in Indic metres (circa 9th century AD), holds a unique position in the literary heritage of Indonesia. The poem has retained a remarkable vitality through the centuries in the Archipelago, inspiring many forms of artistic expression not only in the domain of literature but also in the visual and performing arts, from the reliefs of the majestic Central Javanese temples to modern puppet-show performances.

This paper presents a study of Ra ¯macandra–Gun ˙ acandra's theory of aesthetics in light of the Kashmiri rasa ideology and demonstrates that the Jain authors offer a new and original conceptualization of aesthetic experience, in which the spectator remains cognitively active in the course of watching the drama. In their model, the relationship between rasa and pleasure is mediated by a cognitive error, and the feeling of pleasure does not coincide with the savoring of rasa but emerges after the savoring of rasa ceases. This paper argues that Ra ¯macandra and Gun ˙ acandra demystify the Kashmiri theory of aesthetics by identifying affinities between the lived world and the fictive world of drama and by rendering the regular means of knowledge, such as inference and memory, as instrumental for the experience of rasa. It further suggests that this new conceptualization, in which pleasure is contingent upon the dissolution of illusion, may have facilitated the development of playwrighting among Jain monks from the twelfth century on.

Transcending psychological inhibitions caused by colonial encounter in the comprehension of the past is a daunting task in aesthetic discourses, given the fact that colonial paradigms are difficult to erase and contemporary public spaces of art like Museums, as argued by Edward Said are colonial projects. India's perceptions related to the creation, nature, and evaluation of arts has gone a sea change in the colonial period which created a sort of alienation towards the manifestation of indigenous culture among the colonial subjects. Apart from this, the nature of performance, display, patronage venue, audience and space all underwent far reaching transformations in the process. Leela Gandhi demonstrates that in its reflexive modality, post colonialism holds out the possibility of thinking our way through and out of the historical imbalances and cultural imbalances produced by the colonial encounter.1However, in the retrieval of traditional discourses, distortions are bound to happen when using modern terminology , especially as Aesthetics itself happens to be a non indigenous discipline. Despite these severe methodological constraints, the present paper proposes to explore the relationship between the aesthetic theory formulated by thinkers like Abhinavagupta and praxis related to the creation, experience and evaluation of art forms like the performance arts , painting and sculpture in Precolonial India. The paper will focus on the extant and limitations of the inter relatedness with a view to bring to the fore the tensions involved and the insights they could yield in contemporary attempt to make sense of theory and praxis.Apart from the theoretical works, the sources which are being consulted would comprise self reflexive statements of multi faceted artists like Kalidasa who have occasion to deal with art in its various manifestation in the representation of life. It is hoped that such an exercise will be of some use in the comprehension of tradition and for some sort of self reflexivity in contemporary times especially in addressing issues of identity of Indian art. Needless to say, the paper distances itself from any type of exhortations to 'return to the past' as the present writer feels that tradition in its most creative phase is always dynamic and experimental. Tradition is only one of the resources for the creative spirit.. It is indeed a daunting task to locate the conventional precolonial discourse which could be the exact counterpart of modern aesthetics which would discuss problems related to theory and praxis. Natyasastra , the seminal and iconic text of performing arts of India is virtually an encyclopedia of Indian arts in which the center piece is dramatic performance, but which incidentally discusses allied arts like music and dance. In one way, it is the edifice on which the entire aesthetic thought of India is built. Texts like 1 1 Leela Gandhi, Post Colonial Theory, p.176.

The article examines the use of similes and metaphors in Buddhist philosophical writing, thereby demonstrating how literary analysis normally reserved for poetic writings may be applied to the study of Indian philosophical texts. The article's case-study is a series of bird metaphors employed in the Buddhist commentaries by the seventh-century Indian author Candrakirti. It is argued that these tropes presuppose knowledge of Buddhist narrative literature to be fully appreciated.

par Sylvain BROCQUET. — La Chrestomathie sanskrite est un ouvrage d’une absolue nouveauté, qui à ce jour n’a d’équivalent dans aucune langue. Elle rassemble un nombre considérable de textes parmi les plus représentatifs de la littérature sanskrite, en fournissant au lecteur tous les éléments qui lui permettront, à quelque niveau qu’il soit parvenu dans la connaissance de la langue, de les comprendre et d’en apprécier les qualités littéraires : chacun d’entre eux est brièvement présenté et situé dans son contexte, édité en écriture Nāgarī puis en caractères latins, expliqué dans les moindres détails (grammaire, vocabulaire, civilisation), enfin traduit dans un français qui se veut à la fois élégant et précis.

La Chrestomathie comporte cinq parties, qui offrent un panorama complet de la littérature sanskrite :
(1) L’épopée (Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata).
(2) Les contes (Pañcatantra, Tantrākhyāyika).
(3) Le théâtre (Bhāsa, Kālidāsa).
(4) La poésie savante (d’Aśvaghoṣa à Jayadeva, en passant par Kālidāsa, Bhāravi, Amaru, etc.).
(5) Les traités (les Lois de Manu, le Traité de politique, le Kāmasūtra, le Traité d’art dramatique, le Miroir de la poésie).

Le choix a été fait d’alterner des extraits relativement brefs, mais se suffisant à eux-mêmes, avec des textes plus longs – un épisode entier du Mahābhārata, un chapitre de la Bhagavadgītā, une pièce en un acte de Bhāsa… Le lecteur pourra ainsi prendre le temps de se familiariser avec un style et goûter le plaisir de s’immerger dans une œuvre. Il pourra aussi parcourir les époques et les genres littéraires, comme il le ferait avec une anthologie. Car le but de la Chrestomathie, au-delà de sa fonction didactique, c’est précisément le plaisir du lecteur : lui offrant tous les éclaircissements linguistiques dont il peut avoir besoin et lui épargnant la fastidieuse consultation des dictionnaires, elle s’efforce de lui faire goûter les saveurs multiples d’une littérature d’accès réputé difficile.

Public cible :
Le lectorat auquel s’adresse cet ouvrage est divers : le sanskritiste débutant, dès lors qu’il a acquis les rudiments de la grammaire, y trouvera son compte, tout autant que l’indianiste déjà chevronné. Les textes de lecture aisée y côtoient en effet des œuvres plus complexes et les explications fournies, plus ou moins denses selon la difficulté, peuvent s’utiliser de plusieurs manières, en fonction des acquis de chacun et de ses habitudes en matière d’apprentissage. De plus, au-delà de ceux qui ont entrepris l’étude du sanskrit, la Chrestomathie s’adresse également aux curieux qui, sans prétendre lire les textes originaux, prendront plaisir à découvrir à travers leur traduction quelques-uns des chefs-d’œuvre d’une des littératures les plus remarquables que le génie humain ait produites.
Cette Chrestomathie sanskrite constitue le troisième volet de la série Sanskrit classique destinée à l’enseignement de la langue et de la littérature sanskrites. Comme la Grammaire élémentaire et pratique du sanskrit classique, d'une part, et le Cahier d'exercices, d'autre part, cet ouvrage s’adresse autant aux étudiants qui effectuent leur apprentissage dans le cadre d’un cours qu’à ceux qui l’ont entrepris en autodidactes. Il va sans dire que ces trois volets se complètent mutuellement et que le lecteur aura profit à les utiliser conjointement.

L'auteur :
Sylvain Brocquet est professeur de langue et civilisation comparées des mondes indo-européens à l’Université d’Aix-Marseille, où il enseigne essentiellement la langue et la littérature sanskrites. Après des études classiques (agrégation de grammaire), il s’est orienté vers l’indianisme : d’abord les études védiques, puis l’épigraphie sanskrite, domaine dans lequel il a soutenu sa thèse, qui porte sur les inscriptions d’une dynastie du sud de l’Inde, après avoir effectué un séjour de deux ans à l’Institut français de Pondichéry. Il s’est ensuite spécialisé en littérature et en poétique sanskrites. Ses recherches portent en particulier sur la poésie à double sens : il a publié une traduction et une étude de la Geste de Rāma, un poème épique relatant à la fois les aventures de Rāma et un épisode de l’histoire du Bengale, et achève actuellement la première traduction du Rāghavapāṇḍavīya, qui résume simultanément les deux grandes épopées de la tradition indienne. Il a publié plusieurs autres traductions d’œuvres littéraires sanskrites, notamment dans la collection de La Pléiade, chez Gallimard. Il œuvre également dans le domaine de la formation : fondateur d’une école d’été renommée, l’Académie des langues de l’Inde, il a publié chez Safran la Grammaire élémentaire et pratique du sanskrit classique, suivie du Cahier d’exercices corrigés, qui constituent le complément indispensable de la présente Chrestomathie.
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This hymn pertains to the river crossing event of the Rigveda.

A massive and continuous flood stopped the Bharatas in their tracks. Their guide Vishwamitra then organised a sacrifice and composed this hymn to mollify the rivers' fury. Amazingly, the rivers did subside for a while, just enough for the army to cross over.

This fresh translation of Rig Veda's hymn 3.33 brings out the meaning clearly. It shows there was no real or imaginary dialogue between the sage Vishwamitra and the rivers. Rather, this was Vishwamitra's prayer to the rivers in which the Bharata army joins in at the very end.

Her studies focus on ancient and traditional Javanese art and culture, based on recurrent visits in situ. She has published various articles on her specific research subject-the ancient East Javanese temple reliefs, and is a co-author of Ann Kinney's Worshiping Śiva and Buddha. e temple art of East Java (). A revision of her PhD thesis on Panji reliefs at Majapahit temples, written at the University of Sydney, is planned to be published soon. C L is an Associate in the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Harvard University. Her career has spanned the teaching of Asian art history at several colleges and universities in the United States as well serving in curatorial and research positions in the Department of Asian Art of Metropolitan Museum of Art, e Asia Society, Inc., the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Levin's scholarly work and publications focus on the sculptural narrative tradition of the Central Javanese period; modes of pictorial narration of the Rāmāyaṇa in South and Southeast Asia, and Classical Javanese gold. W M (MA, University of Chicago) is an independent scholar. His current research interests include Javanese mysticism and discourses of supernatural powers in Indonesian media and society.

The Elephant is an animal found only in India and Africa. If this animal were to be mentioned in the Rigveda, it would be a clear proof that the Events described in the Rigveda took place in India. However, this translation shows that the words from the Rigveda commonly understood to denote the elephant, actually refer to another animal. This animal is not found in India.

In Rig veda, Indra is treated much like a celebrity sportsperson of today.

This original translation from Sanskrit, of Hymn 3.45 of Rigveda, just as my other translations, demonstrates how lucid and lively the hymns of Rigveda are, in contrast to the almost abstract work of all previous translators.