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"A new philosophy of Beauty", observes Dr. K. Krishnamoorthi, "may be said to have dawned with the re-interpretation of Rasa, from the standpoint of the Spectator's response. This is common to the different new interpretations propounded by Bhattanāyaka, Ānandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. ....The new significance given to the ancient term Rasa ..... makes it a term which corresponds very much to what we mean today by the term 'aesthetic experience'. It can be found in the contemplative moment of the spectator, ... Its nature is nothing but unalloyed joy, a joy latent in every soul, but patent by the impact of art. In one word, it is 'transcendental', Alaukika".271
Dr. K. Krishnamoorthi has ably shown that the thesis of the Dhvani theorists is that 'Dhvani' is the quintessence of poetry; and 'Rasa' is the quintessence of 'Dhvani'. Dhvani is an exclusively poetic feature concerned with exploiting the 'beauty of every element in the medium of language like Alamkāra, Guna and Riti to serve the ultimate artistic end of Rasa. In other words, Dhvani is the whole poetic process itself. All the elements of Vācyavācaka charm contribute to and culminate in the supremacy of the Vyangya effect, viz., Rasa. Thus we get real Dhvani. 2 7 2
Hemachandra bases his aesthetics on these sound principles as enunciated by Anandavardhana and expounded by Abhinavagupta. In fact, he quotes Abhinavagupta's passages on Rasa-Experience and allied topics to demonstrate his unflinching fidelity to Abhinavagupta's aesthetics. Prof. S. P. Bhattachary observes that "in Chapter 1, the author's guides are the Dhvanyaloka and the Locana. He has occasionally utilised the Kavyaprakāśa, especially in the treatment of the Vșttis, though Hemachandra chooses to differ from Mammata here and there. ... His efforts for being exhaustive in his treatment are evidenced in his taking the cue from Ānandavardhana's specifications of four varieties of Vastudhvani, followed in toto by almost all the later writers and amplifying them to thrice their number with apt illustrations in Prakrit."'2 73
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