Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c79.78

v2.c79.78

Ānandavardhana himself (p. 181), in applying the rasa-theory to Poetics, names as his original authority. It is necessary for this reason to take into account Bharata’s doctrine of nāṭya-rasa as the original source of the doctrine of kāvya-rasa elaborated in later Poetics. But long before the new interpretation of the relation of rasa to poetry, given by the Dhvanikāra and authoritatively established by Mammaṭa, was dominant, Bharata’s views on rasa appear to have been discussed in some detail in dramaturgic systems with the result that divergent theories came to prevail under the names of Bhaṭṭa Lollaṭa, Śaṅkuka, Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka and others, all of whom are supposed to have been commentators on Bharata’s text⁴⁶, or at least to have taken Bharata as their starting point. With Bharata, therefore, we arrive at a distinctly definite landmark in respect of the rasa-doctrine.