Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c10.s6.10

c10.s6.10

Bhaṭṭanāyaka also postulated Śānta Rasa as a fundamental principle. Before him, Āryarakṣita (third century CE), a Jaina author, postulated the theory of Śānta in his *Anuyogasūtra* and even before Āryarakṣita, Aśvaghoṣa had categorically stated at the end of his *Saundarānanda-mahākāvya* that he has composed this poem for ultimate peace (*vyupaśānti*) and the poem has an inherent purport of leading the listeners towards emancipation (*mokṣārtha-garbhā kṛtiḥ*). Then Udbhaṭa is perhaps the first *ācārya* in this tradition who accepts Śānta as one of the *rasas*.