Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c79.75

v2.c79.75

⁴⁴ We get the first definite exposition, as we shall see, of the idea of *rasa* and its relation to poetry in the works of the Dhvanikāra and Ānandavardhana: and its importance in poetry, as distinguished from the drama, was probably understood from that time. Māgha in some verses (see Vol. I pp. 63, fn 3; also p. 344) shows himself conversant with some *theory* of *rasa*: but it is to *nāṭya-rasa* (such as described by Bharata) rather than to *kāvya-rasa* that he appears to refer. It is not maintained that older Sanskrit Poetry was devoid of *rasa* or that the earlier poets never possessed any idea of it: but it is suggested that the theory of *rasa* was not critically set forth, nor its aesthetic importance in poetry properly understood until