Studies In Sanskrit Sahitya Shastra

Author(s): V M Kulkarni
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

Page 80

Studies in
तदाभासतायां शान्ताभासो हास्य एव । प्रहसनरूपस्य अनौचित्यत्यागः सर्वपुरुषार्थेषु व्युत्पाद्यः।
-p. 529 The KLV passage attests the correctness of Dr. Raghavan's reconstructed text and makes it easily intelligible.
21 शान्तस्यापि इति विषयविपरिवृत्त्याऽन्तर्मुखतालाभेन सवरसानां शान्तप्राय एवास्वादः केवलं वासनान्तरोपहित इति हि वक्ष्यते ।
-KLV, p. 313, 11, 1-2 The text of the A. Bh. (Vol I, p. 339, II. 21-22) reads : .
तत्र सर्वरसानां शान्तप्राय एवास्वादो न विषयेभ्यो विपरिवृत्त्या । तन्मुख्यतालाभात् । केवलं वासनान्तरोपहित इत्यस्य सर्वप्रकृतित्वाभिधानाय पूर्वमभिधानम् ।
Dr. Raghavan reconstructs this passage as follows :तत्र सबरसानां शान्तप्राय एवास्त्रादः, विषयेभ्यो विपरिवृत्या । तन्मुख्यता लाभः केवलं वासनान्तरोपहित इति । अत्र सर्वप्रकृतित्वाभिवानाय पूर्वमभिधानम् ।
---The Number of Rasas (1967 ed.). p. 115. Masson and Patwardhan translate it thus :
In this connection, the aesthetic enjoyment of all rasąs is similar to that of śānta, because it (i.e. this aesthetic enjoyment) is turned away from actual sense object contact. (Because we are particularly concerned with one rasa, except that it is mixed with other latent mental impressions (Vāsanā). ? ___ In a foot-note they concede : 1. “We cannot arrive at a meaning for this sentence.” Yes, the sentence, as it stands, yields no satisfactory sense. But the text of the KLV helps us to restore the original reading; the key-word in the text of the KLV is antarmukhatālābhena (antarmukhatā meaning introspection). Keeping in view the text of the A.Bh. and the text as reconstructed by Dr. Raghavan we may now restore the original text :
तत्र सर्वरसानां शान्तप्राय एवास्वादो विषयेभ्यो विपरिवृत्त्याऽन्तर्मुखतालाभात्, केवल वासनान्तरोपहित इति ।
For this proposed restoration we find strong support in the A. Bh. itself. In this very section on śānta-rasa, when explaining the nature of the true relish of śānta Abhinavagupta uses the expression antarmukhāvasthäbhedena :
तत्त्वास्वादोऽस्य कीदृशः । उच्यते-उपरागदायिभिः उत्साहरत्यादिभिरुपरक्त यदात्मस्वरूप...निर्भासमानम् अन्तर्मुखावस्थाभेदेन लोकोत्तरानन्दानयनं [ ? लोकोत्तरानन्दघनं ] तथाविधहृदयं विधत्त इति ।
__ -A. Bh. pp. 340-341 This passage and the variant reading (tanmukhyatā) läbhät, found in the two MSS M and G and recorded by Dr. Raghavan (The Number of Rasas, p. 115, f.n. 2), leave absolutely no doubt as to the correctness of the proposed restoration of the text. 22 लीला इष्टस्यानुकृतिः।
-KLV, p. 313, 1. 17 This reading is quite significant compared to the tame and flat reading lila janasyānukstih found in the A, Bh. (Vol. I, p. 304, 11. 15-16). If the A. Bh. were to