Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c82.s1.70

v2.c82.s1.70

The elaboration of the rasa-theory, however, by this school in the direct tradition of Lollaṭa, Śaṅkuka and Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka, is associated by Mammaṭa and others with the name of Abhinavagupta³⁴. Commenting on Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka’s theory, Abhinava points out that there is no need, as there is no authority for assuming the two powers of bhāvakatva and bhogīkaraṇa; for they are implicitly included in the idea of rasa-vyañjanā and its ultimate āsvāda. Bharata’s dictum kāvyārthān bhāvayantīti bhāvāḥ implies the bhāvakatva to be an inherent capacity of all bhāvas, as the means of bringing into consciousness the sense of poetry, the term sense indicating here the principal sense consisting of the relish of rasa. Hence the sthāyin, together with the vyabhicārin, being bhāvas themselves, bring into existence through this inherent power the extraordinary relishable sense of poetry, cognised in a general or impersonalised form. In this way, the sthāyin may be regarded as the bhāvaka or niṣpādaka of rasa; and this so-called bhavakatva, according to Abhinava, consists in nothing more than a suitable use of guṇa and alaṃkāra (samucita-guṇālaṃkāra-parigrahātmakam) for the ultimate purpose of awakening the rasa through the suggestive power of word and sense. Thus, partially admitting bhāvanā or bhāvakatva but explaining it somewhat differently, Abhinava turns to the other power assumed as *bhoga* or *bhogīkaraṇa* by Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka. He remarks that beyond *pratīti* or perception of *rasa*, he is not aware of any other process called *bhoga*. If it is relish or enjoyment, it is already admitted as the essence of *rasa*, and nothing is gained by giving it a new name. Abhinava thinks that the *bhoga* supposed by Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka is nothing more than the *āsvāda* or relish of *rasa*, based on permanent moods like *rati* etc., and made possible by the suggestive power of poetry. It falls naturally, therefore, within the domain of suggestion and need not be taken as a separate function (*bhogīkaraṇa-vyāpāraś ca kāvyātmaka-rasa-viṣayo dhvananātmāiva*).