Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c84.66

v2.c84.66

There is no doubt that in one verse, which is conveniently cited by Viśvanātha in support of his own extreme view, the *Agni-purāṇa* speaks of *rasa* as the "soul" of poesy in contrast with mere verbal ingenuity (*vāg-vaidagdhya-pradhāne'pi rasa evātra jīvitam*, 336, 33), and devotes somewhat lengthy chapters to the description, after Bharata, of the *rasa* and *bhāvas*; yet there is nowhere any central theory of *rasa* or any elaboration of a system of Poetics on its basis. As to the origin of *rasa*, it propounds a peculiar view that from infinite bliss (*ānanda*) proceeds self-consciousness (*ahaṃkāra*), from self-consciousness proceeds conceit (*abhimāna*), from conceit pleasure (*rati*), of which *śṛṅgāra* (love), *hāsya* (laughter) and other *rasas* are modifications (338, 2-4). It admits with Bharata four fundamental *rasas*, from which are derived five others. Although partiality is thus shown to *rasa* in poetry and drama, the *Agni-purāṇa* cannot be relegated entirely to the Rasa school; for it does not make any attempt to correlate with this central principle the other factors of poetry, viz. rīti, guṇa and alaṃkāra, which are also recognised as of great, if not of equal, importance. One fact, however, worth noticing in this connexion is that although the Agni-purāṇa recognises nine rasas, adding śānta to the orthodox eight, it extols and gives prominence to śṛṅgāra : a trait which is unique and which is further developed by Bhoja, who, as we shall see presently, accepts no other rasa than śṛṅgāra in his Śṛṅgāra-prakāśa and gives almost exclusive attention to this important rasa in his Sarasvatī-kaṇṭhābharaṇa.