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98
V. M. Kulkarni
of a meat-dish (mämsapäka-videsa), prepared by an unskilled cook, and of fikharin which might be inherently beautiful (i.e. delicious).
All the above passages speak of a sahṛdaya who perceives beauty. that is a property or quality of things-thus attesting to the self-evident truth that it takes two, a subject and an object, to make beauty. So, according to these Sanskrit theorists, Beauty is, by nature, subjective-cum. objective:
In other words, perception of beauty is a bipolar phenomenon, being the result of the operation of a highly responsive, sensitive mind on an inherently beautiful thing. Sanskrit theorists, it would seem, support Alexander who wrote:
"Some there are who believe beauty to be a character which belongs intrinsically to the beautiful object and is merely observed or discovered by us."(4) As against this we have the statement by Lipps: "Aesthetic pleasure is an enjoyment of our own activity in an object." The two views seem mutually exclusive. But they can be harmonised. To the extent that the power to yield delight is the generic quality of objects of art, it seems to be an objective feature. But delight is an inward reality in the relisher (the sahṛdaya) .. Beauty is objective when the beautiful object can evoke delight again and again. But the individuals who confront it should have the right sensibility."(5) Disinterested relishing of the rasa which the poet has embodied in a poem is possible for a sahrdaya since there is the basic identity of human nature between individuals-here the poet and the reader of like heart with the poet. Admittedly, sensitivity or poetic sensibility varies widely between individuals but the reaction and experience of all true sahrdayas, when they enjoy disinterestedly the aesthetic emotion, is almost identical and this proves indisputably the objective nature of beauty.
The Nature of Rasa: Now, the greatest source of beauty in literature, is, according to Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta, the depiction-portrayalof emotional situation which gives a sahrdaya higher pleasure, aesthetic rapture of rasa. The word 'rasa' primarily means "taste" or "savour", such as sweetness; and by a metaphorical extension, it has been applied to aesthetic experience. The point of the metaphor is that, as in the case. of a taste like sweetness, there is no knowing of rasa apart from directly experiencing it. Rasa experience is predominantly emotional. It naturally differs according to the specific kind of emotion portrayed-love, sorrow, (4) Alexander Beauty and other Forms of Value
(5) Sanskrit poetics A Critical And Comparative Study by Krishna Chaitanya, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1965, p.55,
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