New Perspectives on Indian Poetics (An Old and Rare Book)

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M.S. Kushwaha, Ph.D., Sahityacharya, who is a senior faculty member of the Department of English, Lucknow University. has already made his mark as an astute Sanskrit scholar. His voluminous Hindi commentary on Laghusiddhanta-Kaumudi (Chowkhamba, 1965) has been highly acclaimed by Sanskrit scholars including Prof. K.A. Subramania lyer, and awarded a literary prize for its excellence by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. He has since moved to the study of Sanskrit poetics, which has resulted lately in the publication of Indian Poetics and Western Thought (Argo 1988) a pioneering venture in comparative poetics.

Dr. Kushwaha is also a noted Byron scholar. His book, Byron and the Dramatic Form (Salzburg University, 1980), is included in New Pelican Guide to English Literature as one of the outstanding critical studies on Byron. His other publications on English literature, besides scholarly papers, include English Research in India (Lucknow, 1972). Glimpses of Indian Research in English Literature (Sterling, 1984), and annotated editions of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House and Ghosts (Macmillan, 1982 and 1989).

The present volume is a sequel to my earlier work, Indian Poetics and Western Thought. Together they are intended to promote a line of approach to Indian poetics which avoids the dangers of both irresponsible cynicism and blind dogmatism.

It contains a selection of unconventional, provocative, and highly original essays on some aspects of Indian poetics. They do not so much expound or enunciate a subject as critically examine and explore it. The authors are neither overawed by tradition nor repelled by novelty. They bring to bear on their subjects the searchlight of modern scholarship which reveals as much their strengths and insights as their weaknesses and drawbacks.

Five out of the seven essays collected here deal with the key- concepts of Indian poetics: rasa and dhvani. While S. S. Barlingay criticizes Abhinavagupta for distorting Bharata's meaning of Rasa, V. K. Gokak pleads for taking it just as an 'attitude'. Krishna Rayan presents the outline of a revised and updated theory of Dhvani, while V. K. Chari questions the very concept of rasa-dhvani, the highest form of Dhvani. And then, there is S.C. Sen Gupta who finds fault with both the theories of Rasa and Dhvani.

The remaining two essays are somewhat of a general nature, though vitally connected with Indian poetics. Mukund Lath offers a very perceptive reading of Natyasastra, which throws new light on several knotty concepts like rasa and vetti. S.S. Sivarudrappa, on the other hand, draws our attention to the failure of Indian poetics to evolve literary criticism which, according to him, has severely limited its scope and viability.

I do not claim that these essays are the last word on their subjects, but I do believe that they will offer a new perspective to the reader and lead him to re-examine some of the views he has taken for granted. If they also generate some critical debate or controversy, so much the better. For we need a greater and multangular involvement of scholars from various disciplines if we really wish to retrieve Indian poetics from stagnation.