Theory of Rasa & Dhavani

Theory of Rasa & Dhavani

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  Theory of Rasa& Dhvani Vishnu Achutha Menon
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  Introduction ● The theoryof Rasa denotes a state of mind and is the dominant emotional theme of a work of art or the primary feeling that is evoked after seeing or reading an art work. ● Initially, there were eight Rasas.
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  ● Navarasa -It describes the human emotions. ● The word itself suggests that there are nine emotions and it is because of these nine emotions it is called navarasa (nine emotions).
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  Theory of Rasain the context of poetry ● The best way a poet can communicate an emotion is not by naming it, but by suggesting it. ● This theory whereby the vital part of a poem is suggested emotion is called the rasa theory. ● Rasa, often translated as "sentiment,"really means the taste, flavor, or the very essence of any given thing,in this case, of emotions.
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  Theory of Rasain the context of poetry ● A poet expresses or describes the causes and effects of an emotion, and using the power of suggestion. ● With words he evokes in his audience the essence or flavor, the rasa, of the emotion rather than the emotion itself. ● For the rasa theorists the final goal of rasa is esthetic bliss.
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  Theory of Rasain the context of poetry ● The Ramayana verse in which Valmiki describes the events which lead him to recite the first sloka as the first and supreme example of rasa was the story of a slain bird and its lamenting mate. ● Rasa is mentioned for the first time in Bharata's Natyasâstra. ● The rasa is experienced through suggestion, not by Valmiki 's statement,"The bird was sad."
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  Theory of Rasain the context of poetry ● Dhvani deals with the method and rasa with the final effect. ● The erotic, the comic, the pathetic, the furious, the heroic, the terrible, the disgusting,the marvellous, are the eight recognized and considered rasas. ● Some great Sanskrit critics have allowed the use of santarasa, even if it be the rasa of the subsidiary plot, in drama.
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  Development of theoryof rasa in context of drama ● Rasa is not only the soul of poetry and drama but also of music , dance and painting. ● Yardstick to measure the excellence of art. ● Rasa depends on reflection on theatrical performance and all its elements as art.
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  CONT.. ● Rasa issaid to be a two-fold experience felt by the creator and his expression through his art and the experience of the spectator, who receive the art. ● Rasa comes alive only when truth join hands with the emotions of the heart and passes through the alchemy of imagination.
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  Background of dhvanitheory ● Rasa may be said as a legitimate vehicle helping in final release of particular passions and immediate responses. It enables consciousness factor to become aware of itself. ● Rasas are mainly evoked by using an artistic processes that makes the visible or audible effects of actual feeling in a group to stimulate or generate the hidden traces proper to Permanent Emotional Modes.
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  The Dhvani Theory ●According to Anandavardhana dhvani means sound in regards to “soul of poetry” ● The use of dhvani together in the other categories of traditional indian poetics created an extreme refinement of artistic form and eliminated the needs for poets to turn to new themes and plots. ● To understand the poetry, the reader or the hearer must be on the same wavelength. ● Dhvani became a part of the poetics of National Indian Literature.
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  Dhvani Theory ● Primarily,this theory explains that how artistic forms and processes touch these feeling-responses in order to build up a rasa. The key term to understand this is Dhvani.The term Dhvani refers to the `resonance` that is generated in one's mind about the unstated meanings and only-suggested auras of significance aroused by words or visible presentations. This idea can be well conveyed through a concrete image of the process embodied in some of the musical instruments of strings in India such as the Sarangi, the big Vina and Sitar.
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  Dhvani Theory ● Thusthe melody that is progressed with time is accompanied by a continuous aura of sympathetic sound. The same effect can also be marked in artistic designs. ● Dhvani basically identified as a means for evoking Rasa and can be understood to embrace allegory, the amphiboly and ambiguity of poetic diction. Not only this but also the expressiveness of gesture & movement of figures, the evocative qualities of musical phrases or visual shapes are also defined with Dhvani.
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  Dhvani- Impact ● Firstcollection of poems by Rajendra Shah on Dhvani Theory. ● Dhvani is the essence of poetry and Ryanjana(process of suggestion) as the medium of literary creation and communication. ● Emergence of Dhvani Theory in the Sanskrit literacy. ● Dhvani has not kept pace with socio-political consciousness and commitment of the time.