Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c10.s6.17

c10.s6.17

Bhaṭṭanāyaka stages a comeback through Dhanika and Dhanañjaya. Parallel to the idea of *rasa* as bliss, the view of *rasa* as a mixture of pleasure and pain also recurs. Abhinavagupta refers to the *Sāṁkhya* view of *rasa* that holds *rasa* as *sukha-duḥkha-svabhāva*. This view differs from Rāmacandra’s (twelfth century) theory, as it holds the very nature of *rasa* as amalgam of pleasure and pain whereas Rāmacandra would consider five *rasas* as *sukhātmaka* (imbued with pleasure) and four as *duḥkhātmaka* (imbued with pain). It is an altogether different theory based on the Jaina view of *ahiṁsā* (non-violence). The proponents of Sāṁkhya system must have built up their aesthetics as well, if we consider how Īśvarakṛṣṇa in his *Sāṁkhyakārikā* used the metaphor of theatre performance to explain the process of *vivekakhyāti* (enlightenment).