Aspect of Jainology Part 2 Pandita Bechardas Doshi

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 492

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Abhinavagupta's Ideas in Locana on the Nature of Beauty of Kavya
Anandavardhana is perfectly aware of the fact that the hackneyed examples of secondary usage (lakṣaṇa, and gunavṛtti) like 'gangayam ghoşah', 'agnir māṇavakaḥ', 'simho batuh', although suggest particular purposes, their suggested sense is not so charming or elegant 20
Abhinavagupta expands and develops this idea in his Locana. He insists that the perception of beauty is the salient or characteristic feature of kavya.
He further adds that the perception of beauty must afford aesthetic repose to the reader. In its absence the linguistic function, called vyanjana, does not start. Recoiling in fact, it comes to rest in the literal sense. It is like a poor man before whom heavenly wealth presents itself for a moment and instantly disappears from his view.
While commenting on the word (dhvaneḥ svarupam) atiramaniyam from Anandavardhana's Vrtti", he rightly observes: "By this expression he points out the difference of divani from (and its superiority to) the bhakta (the secondary usage) There hardly is elegance in these examples of secondary usage: simho bajuḥ' (the boy is a lion), 'Gangāyām ghoṣaḥ' (there is a settlement of cowherds on the river Ganga)." Why these and such other examples want in beauty and why they do not deserve the title kavya he explains in another passage:
The Objector: Thus the sentence "The boy is a lion" might constitute kavya as the soul if the form of suggestion is present in it.
The siddanti: If so, you will have to call a jar 'living'; for atman, which is allpervasive, is also present in it.
The Objector: If the soul is possessed of a body endowed with various organs. etcetera, only then it is called 'living' and not simply any kind of body.
The siddhanti: If the soul of dhvani (suggestion) is invested with a body consisting of words and meanings that are beautiful on account of the presence of gunas (excellences) and alamkaras (figures of speech), appropriate to the particular (rasa-) dhvani, then we call those sabda and artha as kāvya (sabdarthau kāvyaṁ).
Aim/s of Kavya
Dhvanyaloka merely refers to priti or ananda, (aesthetic) pleasure, joy or delight as the unique goal of literature. The discussion of Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava (Canto VIII, "Devisambhogavarṇana") by Anandavardhana, however, is a pointer to his view that literature (or art as such) cannot be divorced from morality. So, one may not be wrong if he drew the inference that Anandavardhana believed. in priti and vyutpatti (aesthetic pleasure and culture or refinement of character or moral sensitivity or proficiency in the means of attaining the four goals of human life,) as the twin aims of literature.