INTRODUCTION

What As Aesthetics?

Traditionally, aesthetics is the branch of philosophy

dealing with beauty or the beautiful, especially in art, and

with taste and standards of value in judging art .1 Lip* s

Theodor defines Aesthetics as the science of the beautiful.

For him, an object is beautiful if it is able to arouse ir> us

a special feeling, which we call the 'sense of beauty'1.

Aesthetics consists of the sense mf beauty'. It is

characterised by love of beauty. It is concerned more with

pure emotion and sensation and less with pure intellect, it

means, broadly, a devotion to beauty and primarily to beauty-

as found in art and in whatever is attractive in the world

around us. So any study of beauty be it natural or man-made,

can be called aesthetic. The quest for beauty is inherert in

every individual.

The Truth, the Good and the Beauty' are considered

both in the east and the west as the fundamental human values.

Aesthetics is concerned with the last of the three. The

judgement of beauty is taken as a mental act arising from a

particular attitude or condition of the mind itself, independent

of the object which is judged as beautiful.

Since art provides our aesthetic experience with the

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highest degree of intensity, it plays an important role ir the

aesthetic thought of man. The artist, in creating, enriches

an ordinary experience with depth and meaning and the highest

degree of intensity of feeling. The aim of an artist is to

communicate what he has experienced. Art is the expression o*

the intense intuition of the artist. Aesthetics studies all

the inodes of art - music, literature, theatre, dance, film,

painting, sculpture, architecture, landscape design and town

planning. The art whether it is useful art or fine art,

whenever it appeals to aesthetic taste is studied by Aesthetics.

Aesthetics as a philosophic discipline studies art no

doubt, but it is not to be confused with art. For the

philosophical approach of aesthetics, it is not enough to

create or enjoy works of art. It is necessary also to try to

understand, explain and evaluate them. The critic is to brine

art to the touchstone of the philosophy of aesthetics, which is

much broader than the philosophy of art. Ruth L. Saw considers

Aesthetics as unique among the evaluative disciplines as it has

to do with feelings, expressed in art and in the appreciation

of art and with the judgements that are usually taken to be

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based on these feelings.

Aesthetic thought is to have the delight of art, which

is peculiar. The delight of art is such that it is full.

Artists and poets, in their art-activities, find themselves

lost in an unending, all-engrossing sea of pleasure and they by

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their artistic creation, make others also able to have such

pleasure. It follows that unless the artist has enjoyed

aesthetic experience, he cannot evoke the joy of this

experience in others, for, as Plato says, "no one can give to

another that which he has not of himself or teach that ot

which he has no knowledge." Whitehead considers aesthetic

thought to be the enjoyment of 'vivid values* and the artist

being impelled by the urge to express, expresses the values.

He delights in the vivid values of life.

It seems that the artist has aesthetic insight or

vision and so, he is able to discern the characteristic of

beauty in circumstances in which its presence escapes the

sight of ordinary man. Thus aesthetics studies the be suty of

art. We have aesthetic thought in the contemplation of beauty

in nature and in art. This contemplation of beauty is quite

old in the history of civilization. "The sense of beauty",

4
George Santayana says, "has a more important place in life."

He adds, "The poets and philosophers who express their

aesthetic experience and stimulate the same function ir us by

their example do a greater service to mankind and deserve

5
higher honour than the discoveries of historical truth."

Santayana thus emphasizes the importance of aesthetics.

Now the question arises, what is beauty? Since the

beginning of speculation on beauty, several definitions o f

beauty have been presented by the poets, artists and philosophers.

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Each definition brings out interesting features of beauty but

not a single definition covers all the faces of beauty. As

such, to give an all-embracing definition of beauty is r e a l l y

a stupendous task, Goethe holds that beauty is inexplicable,

'it is a hovering, floating, glittering shadow', whose basic

outlines 'elude the grasp of definition'.

Aesthetics as a separate branch of philosophy is

comparatively of recent origin in the west. The word is

derived from the Greek word aesthesis, meaning sensory

experience. The name Aesthetics first appeared in 'Reflections

on Poetry' (1735) of Alexander Baumgarten. He was a follower

of the rationalist school of philosophy under the influence o c

Rene Descartes, the father of m o d e m philosophy and Gottfried

Wilhelm Liebnitz, a polymath German philosopher. Leibnitz

holds that our world has the greatest degree of perfection.

Baumgarten accepts this view and maintains that nature, which

Is accessible to sense-perception is the standard of art,

because nature contains the greatest variety of forms, which

admit of harmonious combinations. Beauty, according to

Baumgarten, is felt perfection. Distinction between beauty

and truth is purely subjective. The same attribute (perfection)

of reality is called truth or beauty according as it is grasped

by reason and feeling. So, according to Baumgarten the object

of Aesthetics is to investigate the kind of perfection proper

to perception, which is a lower level of cognition but

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autonomous and possessed of its own laws. Aesthetics is "the

science of sensory cognition.*^

The older theories of beauty were generally

metaphysical in contrast with our modern theories, which are

mostly psychological. The metaphysical theories considered

beauty as something real and objective - perhaps a kind of

essence or entity.

Plato in certain of his Dialogues seems to hold a

peculiarly metaphysical theory of beauty. Beauty is a kind

of eternal and unchanging essence or "form", any Individual

beautiful object is believed to participate in this essential

beauty. When in other places he speaks of harmony, proportion

and symmetry as constituting beauty, he still thinks of them

metaphysically as objective qualities of things. "This is

the essential form of Beauty, absolute Beauty, not seen with

the eyes but grasped conceptually by the 'mind alone' ." Again,

in another place he conceives that "the beauty of this world

e
reminds us of true beauty."

The aesthetic facts, on the basis of which Aristotle

built up his theory, were not the products of the pictorial,

plastic, sculptural or architectural art, but those o f the

poetic in general or of the tragic in particular. In fact, the

whole of his aesthetic theory is summed up in his famous

definition of tragedy, in which he touched upon all the topics.

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The definition of tragedy, according to Buckley's translation,

runs as follows - "Tragedy is an imitation of a worthy or

Illustrious and perfect aetion, possessing magnitude, in

pleasing language# using separately several species of imitation

in its parts, by men acting and not through narration, through

Q
pity and fear effecting a purification from such like passions."

A more spiritual theory of beauty is held by Plotinus,

the Neo-Platonist (A.D. 205-70), who thinks that beauty is the

pure effulgence of the divine Reason. When the Absolute

expresses itself or shines forth in its full pristine reality,

it is beauty. The artist is the "seer" who can see the divine

Beauty.

Hegel’s theory is an instance of a more modern

metaphysical view. Nature is a manifestation of the Absolute

Idea. Beauty is the Absolute Idea shining through some

sensuous medium. It is a kind of disclosure of spirit.

Schopenhauer's metaphysical theory of Beauty, is very

striking. The artist is able to seek through the outer husk of

things the ideal beauty lying behind the phenomena.

Another metaphysical theory has been offered by Ruskin,

who believes that beauty in objects is found in certain

qualities, such as, unity, repose, symmetry, purity and

moderation, which typify divine attributes. The elements

of repose and unity in harmonious functioning have been

emphasized by Ethal D. Puffer in her admirable book, 'The

Psychology of Beauty'. "The beautiful object possesses those

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qualities which bring the personality into a state o* unity and

self-completeness."

A recent subjective metaphysical theory is that of the

Italian philosopher, Benedetto Croce, who says that beauty is

wholly mental, not belonging to physical objects. Aesthetic

creation is the mind’s most primitive and elemental form of

activity. Croce calls it "expression", but by this he does not

mean the translation of a mental concept into some outer

physical form. Aesthetic activity is a spiritual act, by which

we convert mere impressions into intuitions.

An entirely new dimension has been given to aesthetic

thought by Kant. He represents the beginning of the m o d e m

scientific and psychological study of aesthetics. The peculiar

characteristic of aesthetic feeling is that it is disinterested.

The beauty always provides disinterested satisfaction. Beauty,

although mental, is objective, since it is always the object of

a judgement, in which we say "This thing is beautiful", thus

regarding beauty as a quality of objects.

It is obvious that in the part of the critique of

judgement dealing with beauty Kant is interested chiefly in

'free beauty'.* And it is his doctrines about free beauty that

have been most influential in modern aesthetics. In fact,

*Under 'free beauty' Kant includes those beauties which are

unrelated to goodness except in being good to look at or
listen to. (A New Theory of Beauty* hy Gury Siroello)
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beauty in modern times has been commonly identified with "free"

activity.

A suggestion made by Kant and followed by the poet

Schiller was later developed by Herbert Spencer into the so-

called Play-impulse theory. The word play may be applied to

all those human activities which are free and spontaneous and

pursued for their own sake alone. They are not continued

under any internal or external compulsion. According to

Spencer, when this playlike activity involves the two higher

senses, sight and hearing, and our mental powers and even our

emotions, the conditions are fulfilled for the requirement of

aesthetic pleasure, which arises in the use of surplus energy.

What we generally consider to be an aesthetic pleasure is

nothing but an overflow of energy such as we find in children's

play.

In the contemplation of beauty, in its many forms, the

eye, ear and the mind are at play, and the accompanying

pleasure is aesthetic.

Art makes beauty a transcendental experience. It is

in the nature of Art to express a spiritual element even in

pain, even in scenes of tragedy. Art does not merely imitate

Reality, it interprets it. It generalizes, idealizes and

transfigures reality. For, the purpose of art is not merely

to de So rate but to express something immanently beautiful and

moving. "It is the mark of great art that its appeal is

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waiversal and eternal. Significant form stands with the power

to provoke aesthetic ^motion in anyone capable of feeling it.

Great art remains stable and unobseure because the feelings

that it awakens are independent of time and place, because its

kingdom is not of this world. The forms of art are

inexhaustible; but all lead by the same road of aesthetic

emotion to the same world of aesthetic ecstasy."*1

Indian Conception of Aesthetics : The Origin and Bvolutlon of

Indian Aesthetics :

The word "aesthetics" in the context of Indian

Aesthetics means "science and philosophy of fine art". Fine

art presents the Absolute in sensuous garb and aesthetics1

relation. Aesthetics examines the principles and concepts

that are assumed by art critics. Thus aesthetics is more

philosophical in character, in so far as it examines the

fundamental presuppositions of the artistic activity and its

concepts. Hence aesthetics is defined as the philosophy of

art.

Architecture, music, poetry, sculpture and painting

are recognised to be fine arts by Hegel. Indian authorities

admit architecture, music and poetry alone to be fine arts,

for they alone have independent being. Poetry is the highest

of all arts and drama is the highest of all forms of poetry.

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In India, the study of aesthetics was at first

restricted to the drama. The most ancient available text on

dramaturgy is Natyasastra (4th and 5th century A.D.) of the

mystic Bharata. In drama, both sight and hearing collaborate

in arousing in the spectator, a state of consciousness

experienced intuitively and concretely as a juice or flavour,

called Rasa,* This Rasa when tasted by the spectator pervades

and enchants him. Aesthetics is, therefore, the act of tastina

this rasa by iinmensing oneself in it to the exclusion of all

else.

The theory of Rasa was first proclaimed by t h e m y t h ic a l

sage-priest, Bharata and developed by Abhinavagupta, a g r e a t

rhetorician and philosopher. Bharata attempted to transform

the content of poet's mind into the stage-1anguage. T h i s

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language, according to Barlingay, was called Rasa by B h a r a t a .

Bharata listed the following principal feelings of human n a t u r e ,

delight, laughter, sorrow, anger, heroism, fear, disgust and

astonishment. These are called bhavas or sthayibhavas.** T h ey

are transformed by art into the rasas : erotic, comic, p a t h e t i c ,

furious, terrible, odious, marvellous and quietistic - qualities

into which ordinary feelings can be analysed.

♦Spencer also in his play-like activity lays emphasis upon the

two higher senses, sight and hearing.

**The word 'bhava' is derived by Bharata from the causative of

'bhu', to be bhavas - feelings. The meaning of the 'sthyain'
is permanent, basic, athyai-bhavas - permanent, basic
feelings.
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P.V. Kane referring to Bharata explains why the

aesthetic pleasure is called rasa. Persons, taking delicious
food prepared with many condiments, taste many flavours and
feel pleasure. Likewise spectators relish sthayi-bhavas,
suggested by various bhavas, acting, recitation e tc ., and enjoy
delight, and they are therefore called natya-rasas. 13

Each o f Bharata's successor went through his rasa

theory and interpreted i t according to th eir own understanding.
F irst came Dandin (7th century), and then Bhatta Lollata (9th
century) • According to them, rasa is simply the permanent
mental state (anger, fear e tc .) raised to i t s highest pitch by
the combined e ffe c t o f the Determinants, consequents and
transitory mental states. According to another thinker Sankuka,
•Rasa' is an imitated mental state, which was refuted by
Abhinavagupta. According to another important figure in the
history o f the doctrine o f Rasa, Bhatta Nayaka, the aesthetic
state o f consciousness be i t anger, love or pain e tc . is &Lest
concerned with everyday l i f e . It is completely independent of

any individual interest, rather he views i t in a generalized

way.

Abhinavagupta accepts and elaborates the core of

Bhatta Nayaka's aesthetic ideas, that is , the concept o f
generalization, but he r e s e t s the other concepts o f Nayaka's
aesthetics. Abhinavagupta maintains that rasa is not revealed,
but suggested, or manifested. He says, "The Rasa does not
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in the actor. Rasa is not limited by any difference of space,

14
time and knowing subject." Abhinavagupta says, "Rasa is

tasted through the act of tasting the beatitude of one’s own

consciousness. This tasting is pleasant in that the

consciousness is coloured by the latent traces of the mental

states of delight, etc., pre-existing (in the minds of the

spectators). Such traces are aroused by the corresponding

determinants and consequents which are pleasant (beautiful etc.)

by virtue of the consent of the heart - are afforded by the

words ."15

Barlingay holds that Rasa was originally intended to

refer to an object (or medium or language) of Natya? but in

the post-Abhinavagupta era, it meant a mental state, a pleasure,

and aesthetic consciousness. It was then associated not only

with Natya but also with Kavya in general .15

The concept of Visuddha-sattva beginning with Sankhya-

Patanjala, has deeply influenced Bharata's Rasa speculations.

*
There are two references in the "Sankhya-karika" to aesthetics.

According to one, the actor does not imitate but himself becomes

the hero. Just as the subtle body becomes a man or an animal

so does the actor becomes the character that he represents. The

other asserts that in aesthetic experience, the subject i s free

♦Sankhya-karika - Isvarakrsna*s Sankhya-karika is the earliest

available and authoritative text-book of the Sankhya.
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from two gunas, Rajas and Tamas, and therefore, free from the

selfish and purposive attitude and the determinative cognitive

17
activity. This is the concept of Visuddha-sattva. Later

Alamkarikas return to this concept again and again. Sankhya-

Patanjala, Vedanta, Pancaratra, Saiva and Sakta branches of

Indian philosophy agree so far as this concept of V i s u d d h a -

Sattva is concerned. Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism also

contributed to the evolution of this concept of Indian

Aesthetics. In eighteenth century, Kavi Kamapura reiterates

Bharata's standpoint that Rasa enjoyment i s based on V i s u d d h a -

Sattva.

Ahara* in the form of Vibhava** in the world o^ a r t ,

undergoes a transformation. This is then the ahara o f t h e

Visuddha-Sattva. The Vibhavas themselves help the impure

Sattva to attain the stage of purification and once t h i s

purification is earned, there is no bar or hindrance t o R a s a -

enjoyment. Rasa-enjoyment is thus only the privilege o c

Visuddha-Sattva, a concept which has dominated Indian t h o u g h t

for more than two thousand years.

To have this stage, man must be able t o h a r m o n is e all

the discordent elements, which throw him off his b a l a n c e . T h e

great purpose of the artist and t h e poet i s to help him t o

attain such a harmonious state of peace and concord w i t h

♦Ahara - Indriyartha, in the form of Vibhava is ahara ( f o o d ) .

**Vibhava - Determinants.
'3 - ~ ‘ ■
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himself. It is only when he has succeeded in uniting h i s whole

self, he is fit to enjoy the bliss of aesthetic enjoyment. Art

in India has its roots in aesthetic contemplation. The

principal aim of the artist is to produce a work which has a

flavour (rasa), harmony, balance, rhythm and pattern. For

Indian Aesthetics, the primary value of art is rasanubhava.

The aesthetic purpose of the poet and the dramatist

is to provide his reader and audience, first of all with

vibhavas, which with anubhava* and vyabhicharibhava** will

strengthen the latent sthayi-bhava. This will help the man to

attain perfect samata or balance. The attainment of balance

liberates him from the thraldom of vhabas. Suddh-Sattva is

such an ideal, perfectly equipoised state. Rasa-enjoyment is

possible for a man who attains such Suddha-Sattva.

Ideal aesthetic attitude is characterised by certain

qualities. It is, as Bharata says, characterised by ecrua]

attentiveness to everything or samarata which is possible due

to Suddha-Sattva. According to Abhinavagupta, it is marked by

equal dominance of all the ingredients. It is the meeting point

of ksara and asksara purusas stated in the Bhagavad Gita, it it

the null point of prana and apana mentioned in the tantras. ft

is the madhya-bindu according to yogic practice. Here it the

♦Anubhava - consequents

**Vyabhicharabhava - Transitory mental states.

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meeting point of jnana and abhava, knowledge and emotion. Here

sat and cit are blended together in perfect harmony, making

18
possibly the bursting out of Ananda.

The concept of this perfectly equipoised and balanced

state of the mind, marks the peculiar character of aesthetic

attitude. Even the punishment of sin is beautiful since it

is in order, and all that is ordered is beautiful. The beauty

of day is augmented by its comparison with night, a white

colour is more beautiful when it is next to black, the hangman

and the prostitute are necessary in a comrmnity. The ugly

%

parts of the body are also necessary. So great is the power

of wholeness or soma, that things which are not good in

themselves, become good when they are joined together and

considered in their entirity. As the presentation of

contraries lends beauty to language, so the beauty of this

IQ
world is achieved by the presentation of contrasts of things.

According to the majority of aestheticians, the nature

of aesthetic object is unworldly (alaukika). This alaukiku

state is unique in as much as it is presented as a unitive,

homogeneous experience. It is characterised by a state o r

compactness which is felt as beatitude. Within this state of

self-sufficiency, the self does not feel the need for any thine*

other than it3elf. This type of beatitude cannot be enjoyed ir.

practical life where things external to the subject are always

desired. The distinction of subject and object which is

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present in all ordinary experiences is obliterated in the

aesthetic experience.

However, in the aesthetic experience, the feelings

and the facts of every-day life, even if they are transfigured,

are always present. Art is not absence of life - every element

of life appears in the aesthetic experience. But it ir, life

itself, pacified and detached from all passions.

Aesthetician Bhatta Nayaka was a profound scholar o r

Mimamsa and Vedanta metaphysics. Aesthetician Ananaaverdhar.

was a profound philosopher of Kashmir saivicm. Aesthetic!fr.

Abhinavagupta was proficient in practically all systems and

wrote authoritative works on the Fratyabhijna system of

philosophy. Aesthetician Bharata himself was a mythical sage-

priest. Yet they never allowed their aesthetics to be swamped

by metaphysics. They use their philosophic acumen to clarify

aesthetic ideas and not to substitute metaphysical concepts

for aesthetic ideas. They laid down that Fratibha* alone is

the supreme means of aesthetic experience.

In Indian thought, the aesthetic experience is

considered to be an experience of the whole man, and not a

part of him. Taken in this very wide sense, a mathematician,

can in the course of his study gain the aesthetic perspective.

*Pratibha - The creative or artistic intuition.

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The peculiarity of the aesthetic state is not consequently in

terms of that which isolates it from other experiences hut

that which elevates it to a different level.

It is found in traditional texts that the aesthetic-

experience is akin to the religious experience. There Is yet

a difference between the two. The aesthetic thought

transmutes the occurrences and feelings of everyday life no

doubt, but still it remains conscious of them whereas the

mystic state of religious experience marks the complete

disappearance of all polarity and in it the contents o^

everyday life are transcended. In aesthetic experience, the

empirical and rational order of things (Samsara) is not

eliminated, as it would be in the religious state, but

transfigured. This transfiguration effects the mysterious

conversion of pain into pleasure, sadness into delight,

mobility and inequietude into rest and the fulfilment of

desires .20

An emotional reaction is a sensuous organic expe jencf

within which the ego predominates while an aesthetic response

is a mental and spiritual reaction, a supersensuous expeileno

within which the ego is transcended. It is the full realisation

of the self. The self is no longer a limited, narrow empirical

ego, it becomes the ultimate unbounded consciousness where thes­

is a full participation of the subject with the aesthetic object.

Here of course the subtle difference between the aesthetic and

 IP

mystic experiences becomes negligible. And in this sta e, t.N

magical conversion of pain into pleasure takes place.

This extra-ordinary power of transmuting sadness into

pleasure may be called the unique capacity, the different!:

which belongs to the aesthetic experience, which makes i+- ~

different kind of experience from the other empirical

experiences. This sudden transformation of pain into pleasure

is not a miraculous phenomenon. It is the result of the

individual consciousness finding its identity within th lamer

whole of the universal consciousness. This unique state is

the fundamental basis of Indian aesthetics.

Reniero Gnoli after studying Abhinavagupta's

•Abhinavavarati* realizes that the aesthetic thought becimirq

with Bharata, later with slight modified state of Bhatta

Nayaka along with that of Abhinavagupta, reaches conclusions

which are still to-day living and valid and even relatively

novel to Western thought. Abhinavagupta simply polishes

Bharata* s view of the aesthetic object. We are also to admi'*

this.

Contemporary thinkers of India cannot neglect th

intuitions of older thinkers like Bharata and Abhinavagupta

They are the perennial sources of new light.

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Aesthetic Thought of Modern India:

In India, tradition has been a unifying force and has

kept alive what has been termed the perennial philosophy. It

is through the strength of tradition and cultural heritage

that India has succeeded, age after age, in retaining its

subtle unity in spite of so much of diversities.

The peculiarity of oriental civilization is that

abrupt changes are not welcomed here. In India, the

assimilation of new forces has always been taken place, but no

trace of breaking with the past is noticeable. So deep is the

sense of continuity that we may quote here a Bergsonian phrase

- “The past gnaws into the present." "In no other country"

21
says Max Muller, "is the past so visibly present as in India."

Indian culture is like a banyan tree which has grown and

begotten new roots and grown again simultaneously.

Very often whenever necessity arises, an Indian write i

is found to use the word 'naturally* instead of ‘surprisingly',

because deep down in the Indian consciousness, £here is a

conviction that the new, in order to be worthwhile, must

subsume the old within itself so that the total harmony is not

interrupted.

All the prominent Indian thinkers of the m o d e m age

have shown adequate appreciation of the value of tradition.

They have criticised and rejected the negative side, but have
 2C

not tried to overturn the tradition as a whole. Their feet

are planted firmly in the soil of India. This will be borne

out in subsequent chapters when we discuss the thoughts of

Tagore, Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, Coomaraswarny, Iqbal and

Radhakrlshnan.

Tradition while accepted uncritically, becomes a blind

guide leading the people into pitfalls whereas it car be a

stimulant if used with wise judgement. The m o d e m Indian

thinkers have interpreted tradition not as something immutab!s

but as something which must be continually reassessed in the

light of fresh experience. They do not glorify the past as

such, but only that aspect of the past which has survived in a

changing and growing world. This is true also in case of

aesthetic thought of m o d e m India.

It is clear, therefore that reverence for tradition

and for the 'heritage of the past' has not prevented Indian

thought from moving forward.

From Ram Mohan Roy to Radhakrlshnan, the common

assumption has been that though Indian thought needs

orientation, it cannot abandon its traditional concern with

the transcendental and the timeless. M o d e m Indian Aesthetics

too abides by this principle.

The story of Indian thought since the end of the

eighteenth century is, indeed, the story of a long line o f

 21

dynamic thinkers who combine earnestness* s in c e r ity and

compassion with unusual r e fl e c t i v e and sp ecu la tiv e powers.

So* the con tin u ity o f Indian tr a d itio n i s seen in the

a e s th e tic sen sitiv en ess o f the leading th inkers o f the modern
age. One o f the p e rsiste n t features o f Indian cu ltu re i s the
c lo s e in tercon n ection between philosophy, r e lig io n and a r t.
The founders o f the tr a d itio n who composed the Vedas, and th>
TJpanishads were p h ilosoph ers, sages and p o e ts . They had fin e
a e s th e tic sense. They were most intim ately rela ted to nature.
Every b e a u tifu l phenomenon o f nature was d e ifie d by them.

P h ilosop h ica l concepts and r e lig io u s b e l i e f s have

always permeated the d iffe r e n t modes o f a rt in In d ia. In
medieval India, p h ilo so p h ica l and r e lig io u s thoughts were
p r a c t ic a lly merged in to p o e try . A glance a t modem Indian
thought shows th at the a e s th e tic element continues to be very
important and three o f the thinkers o f modern India - Tagore,
S r i Aurobindo and Iqbal are philosophers and at the same time
poets o f the h igh est o rd e r. S ri Aurobindo i s even known as a
sage. Each o f them has a s ig n ific a n t con trib u tion to
a e s th e tic s . Even Mahatma Gandhi, a ste m m ora list liv in g a
simple l i f e i s not at a l l in d iffe r e n t to the a e s th e tic side o f
life . Coomaraswamy's e n tir e philosophy i s centred i r a e s th e tic s .
K.C. Bhattacharya a lso does not keep him self in d iffe r e n t to
a e s th e tics
 22

There are two types of manifestations of this

aesthetic response which again show how the continuity of

Indian thought has been maintained in the modern age*, "the use

of parables, allegories and metaphors is traced in some of

their writings and the constant awareness of the close kinship

between man and nature is also discerned.

In the Indian tradition, it is observed that the wise

men prefter to live in natural surroundings to work out their

thoughts, they seem to be disturbed by the mechanical monotony

and bustle of the city life. It is highly significant that the

two most important thinkers of m o d e m India - Mahatma Gandhi

and Rabindra Nath Tagore - lived in rural surroundings. Their

love for nature is both directly and indirectly reflected ir

their aesthetic thoughts.

According to the aesthetic thought of m o d e m India,

the aesthete or the artist should be regarded as the total man.

When we consider the life-value of an aesthetic object, it wi]1

be difficult to distinguish the moral from the aesthetic. Some-

philosophers have identified 'the beauty' with the 'good*. The

truth, the good and the beauty are the fundamental human values.

Their counterpart - satyam, sivam and sundaram - are considered

in India as the trium of supreme existence. Regarding the

relation between the three basic human values the great Indian

poet, Tagore writes, "Whenever we see the good and the true ir
22
perfect accord, the beautiful stands revealed." Radhakrishnan
 23

also expressed similar view. According to him, " ... we

cannot be artistic if we are not nourished by thought and

sustained by morals. Highest art, philosophy and morality are

manifestations of spiritual unity. We should be whole man

before wecan be artists, philosophers, heroes."

23

K.C. Bhattacharyya has presented his aesthetic views

succinctly in the chapter on 'Rasa* in his 'Studies in

Philosophy* (vol. I). He wants to make the present generation

acquainted with 'Rasa' which was used to denote the aesthetic

enjoyment in the aesthetic thought beginning from Bharata to

Abhlnavagupta.

According to him, 'Rasa' means either aesthetic

enjoyment or that which is aesthetically enjoyed. In the

Indian conception, this 'Rasa* is appreciated purely through

feeling. Feeling has, of course, different gradations. In the

direct feeling, the enjoyer feels no distinction between his

enjoyment and the object. The object appears to him as having

a value, not merely as a fact. The subject feels attracted to

the object.

Next to direct feeling, there are feelings where the

object is not a particular thing, but another feeling, say in

a separate mind. This is sympathetic feeling. To sympathise

with a person is to feel his feeling, which is the direct object

of my feeling. This may be considered as a higher level than

the feeling of an object. Aesthetic enjoyment belongs to a

 2 4

still higher level than both object-feeling and sympathetic

feeling .24

In sympathy, the detachment is felt from the objective

fact but not from subjective fact. But there may be such a

feeling as sympathy with sympathy. This is duplicated

sympathy. K.C. Bhattacharyya observed, "To this duplicated

sympathy, the expression of the object is not only detached, as

in the case of simple sympathy, but self-subsisting, having a

felt independent reality of which the given object is only a

kind of symbol. Since it is altogether detached from the

particularity of fact, it is a kind of eternal reality, a real

2 5
eternal value." "Beauty is such an eternal value and aesthetic

enjoyment accordingly belongs to the level of duplicated

sympathy - sympathy with sympathy."

So, the indication is - the beauty of an object is not

a mere fact - a quality of the object like its colour but an

expression or value. It is to aesthetic feeling a real eternal

value. Thus expression, detachment from the object and

eternity are three distinguishing characters of the beauty o ‘

an object. In the Indian theory of art, the aesthetic essence

is conceived as a subjective absolute or rasa rather than as an

2 7
objective absolute or beauty.

The aesthetic attitude in itself is not creative. It

discovers beauty or ugliness. There are spirits where aesthetic

 25

attitude is so deep and penetrating that they may evolve a

beauty even out of presented ugliness. The 'patient faith of

courageous love' helps in this transmutation of uglyness into

beauty. K.C. Bhattacharyya says, “Potentially, I believe the

artistic spirit can swallow and assimilate every kind of

feeling, subordinate the most refractory of feelings to itselr,

2B
transmute all painful feelings into enjoyment."

The faith that the uglyness can be transmuted into

beauty is familiar enough in the artistic sense. K. C.

Bhattacharyya observes, “As the aesthetic faith turns into

vision and attainment, there emerges a Beauty Triumphant in

which ugliness is itself realised in its quintessence as an

objeet of enjoyment. This enjoyed quintessence of ugliness is

just what Indian aesthetic daringly recognises as a rasa, viz.,

bibhatsa-rasa. Such recognition does credit to the virility of

29
Indian art and to the Indian theory of art."

In the first chapter, I have discussed the aesthetic

view of Tagore. Tagore's approach to philosophy is aesthetic.

His ideas are delicate and subtle. He seems to flit from

thought to thought with the delight of a carefree butterfly.

His thought is anti-ascetic through and through. He shows

towards human frailty an indulgence which only a poet can

afford. Tagore's humanism is coloured by his aesthetic and

mystical experiences. To him there can be no duty nobler than

the pursuit of loveliness. For Tagore, the real is beautiful.

 26

The universe remains for him perennially interesting. He

tastes every stimulus with undiminished joy. He is deeply

influenced by the Upanishads and to some extent by Buddha. For

the comprehensive study of his aesthetic thought I have dealt

with his view of art, his concept of the Reality or God from

aesthetic point of view, his path of harmony and the creative

middle path based upon aesthetic experience and his aesthetic

base of humanism, freedom and bondage.

The second chapter of my work has been devoted to the

study of the aesthetic thought of Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma

Gandhi was a stern moralist, but he could not remain indifferent

to the aesthetic side of life. Beauty, for Gandhi, is not an

isolated aspect of reality. He maintains that art cannot be

cultivated apart from the other processes of life. Beauty,

inseparably related to truth and goodness, is for him part and

parcel of existence. He regards life itself as an art. In

ancient and medieval times, it is assumed that beauty and

utility both belonged to a single life style. Gandhi adopts

this traditional approach to the aesthetic side of life.

According to Gandhi, the basis of aesthetics is not the absence

of work. His argument for this is, "Just as both Prince an 1

Peasant must eat and clothe themselves, so must they labour for

supplying their common wants.'*^ In the absence of such a

provision, aesthetics becomes a luxury only for the few. So,

in this chapter, I have discussed Gandhi’s pragmatic Idealism

 27

its relation to aesthetics, the necessity of Art for mass

communication, his view of Aesthetics and ethics, his

philosophy of art and spiritualism, his deep feeling for

natural beauty, his affirmation of the ideal of asceticism as

the greatest art.

The third chapter presents the modern aesthetic

thought of Sri Aurobindo. As a man of profound scholarship and

deep insight, he is always guided by the purest of motives. His

unique achievement is that he has constructed a complete,

comprehensive system. His philosophic theory basically deals

with evolution and involution. Through evolution, he

endeavours to arrive at the divine level which is beautiful and

through involution he desires to bring down the divine into th»

earth. This divine is beautiful from his aesthetic point o*

view. In the chapter on Aurobindo, I have discussed his

aesthetic ideas as related to Indian culture, aesthetic

significance of his philosophy of evolution, aesthetic thoughts

of 'Life Divine', 'savitmi.1

, 'synthesis of yoga', 'Essays or;

the Gita' and 'the ideal of Human unity'.

The fourth chapter consists of the aesthetic thought

of Iqbal. Iqbal occupies a unique position in contemporary

Indian thought. There is no doubt that he carries the Islamic

tradition with him, yet he appears to be close to other

contemporary Indian thinkers In many respects. He moves away

from extreme monism, adopts a more positive additude to the

phenomenal world and the finite individual, and recognises the

importance of movement and change. He is a poet-philosopher.

He regards the human self as active, dynamic, creative and

free. Perfection cannot be earned through passivity rather it

is the fruit of activity. Perfection is beauty to him. He

conceives time as the core of reality. Fower and love find

significant place in his thought. The topics as influence of

traditional culture of India upon Iqbal, his attitude to the

phenomenal world, the finite individual self, movement and

change, Iqbal as a poet, his philosophy of power and love have

been emphatically discussed here as they are saturated with

aesthetic speculation.

Fifth chapter of my work is confined to Coomaraswamy's

aesthetic thought. His approach is consistently aesthetic and

his entire philosophy is founded on aesthetic experience. I

have discussed in this chapter his aesthetic orientation to -1’

and its significance in the traditional way of life, his 'Danct

of Shiva1, his statement of the all-round excellence of the

arts and crafts of India, aesthetic implications of perennial

philosophy.

The subject of my si^chapter is Radhakrishnan* s

aesthetic thought. He views things comprehensively. Real

spiritual beauty lies in the comprehension of wholeness and

aesthetic delight is acquired from this spiritual beauty. Art

helps us in realizing this wholeness. He is of the opirior

 29

that aesthetic experience is the revealer of reality. He

regards the aesthetic value to be spiritual. The selected

Issues of this chapter are those which are sufficient to cover

Radhakrishnan's aesthetic ideals and outlooks. I have given

emphasis on Radhakrishnan's Idealism and its relation to

aesthetics, the role of art in his 'An Idealist view of life-',

his view of Art and spiritualism, his conception of literature

and science and his aesthetics and religious experience.

The last one is the concluding chapter.

 30

REFERENCES

1. Runes, D. Dagobert, e d t ., Dictionary o f Philosophy, r . o

2. Saw, Ruth L A e s t h e t i c s : An Introduction, p . 16

3. Kaplan, J .A ., e d t., P la to , Symposium, p . 198

4. Santayana, G ., The Sense o f Beauty, p. 1

5. Ib id ., p , 1

6. Baumgarten, G ., Scientia Cognitionis, Sensitivae :

Aesthetica, p . 1

7. P la to , Phaedrus, p . 65

8 . I b id ., p . 249

9. Pandey, Kanti Chandra, Contemporary A esth etics, v o l . IT -

Western A esth etics, p . 40

10. P u ffe r, Ethel D., Psychology o f Beauty, p .

11. B e ll, C liv e , A rt, pp. 36, 37

12. Barlingay and Prasad, Rajendra, edt., Indian Philosophical

Quarterly, v o l. VIII, p . 434

13. Sen, R .K ., A esthetic Enjoyment, p . 39

14. G noli, Raniero, A esthetic Experience According to

Abhinavagupta, p . xxxvi

15. I b id ., p . 83

16. Barlingay and Prasad, Rajendra, e d t., Indian Philosophies]

Quarterly, v o l. V I I I , p . 438
17. Pandey, Kanti Chandra, Comparative Aesthetics, vol. I
Indian Aesthetics, p. 71

18. Sen, R.K, Aesthetic Enjoyment, p. 352

19. Ibid., p. 353

20. Gnoli, Raniero, Aesthetic Experience according to

Abhinavagupta, p. xxlv

21. Muller, Max, From Ram Mohan to Radhakrishnan, Preface

22. Tagore, R.M., Art and Aesthetics, p. 63

23. Schilpp, P.A., edt., Radhakrishnan* s 'Reply to Critics'

in The Philosophy of Radhakrishnan, p. 795

24. Bhattacharyya, K.C. edt. by Bhattacharyya, Gopinath,

Studies in Philosophy, vol. I, pp. 349-5 9

25. Ibid., p. 352

26. Ibid., p. 352

27. Ibid., p. 357

28. Ibid., p. 360

29. Ibid., p. 363

30. Sethi, J.d., Gandhi Today (2nd edition), p. 89