Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v2.c86.37

v2.c86.37

ised treatises have, however, very little importance from the speculative point of view; and as they belong properly to the province of Erotics rather than Poetics, a treatment of them should be sought elsewhere. The simple idea, elaborated more or less in all these works, is that the awakening of *rasa* is all-important in poetry, and that the fundamental *rasa* is *śṛṅgāra* or the erotic, which is consequently treated in its various phases with copious illustrations. This is clearly expressed in the attitude of the author of *Agni-purāṇa* and of Bhoja, who accept only one poetic *rasa*, the erotic²¹. In the same way, Rudrabhaṭṭa declares *śṛṅgāro nāyako rasaḥ*, (i 20), and Bhānudatta appears to take it for granted that *śṛṅgāra* occupies an honoured place among all the *rasas* (*tatra raseṣu śṛṅgārasyābhyarhitatvena* etc, ed. Benares, p. 21).