Ānandavardhana (c. 820–890 CE) was the author of ''Dhvanyāloka'', or ''A Light on Suggestion'' (''dhvani''), a work articulating the philosophy of "aesthetic suggestion" (''dhvani'', ''vyañjanā''). The philosopher
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logicianRe-accessing Abhinavagupta, Navjivan Rastogi, ...
(c. 950 – 1016 CE) wrote an important commentary on it, the ''Locana'', or ''The Eye''.
Ānandavardhana is credited with creating the ''dhvani'' theory. He wrote that ''dhvani'' (meaning sound, or
resonance
Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied Periodic function, periodic force (or a Fourier analysis, Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system ...
) is the "soul" or "essence" (''ātman'') of poetry (''kavya'')."
"When the poet writes," said Ānandavardhana, "he creates a resonant field of emotions." To understand the poetry, the reader or hearer must be on the same "
wavelength
In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.
It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, t ...
." The method requires sensitivity on the parts of the writer and the reader.
The complete ''Dhvanyāloka'' together with Abhinavagupta's commentary on it has been translated into English by the Sanskritist
Daniel H.H. Ingalls and his collaborators.
Assessment by Modern Sanskritists
Modern Sanskritists have a very high opinion of Ānandavardhana. Commenting on Ānandavardhana's ''Dhvanyaloka'',
P.V. Kane writes that "the Dhvanyāloka is an epoch-making work in the history of Alaṅkāra literature. It occupies the same position in poetics as Pāṇini's Aṣtādhyāyī in grammar and Śaṅkarācarya's commentary on Vedānta". And
Daniel H.H. Ingalls calls Ānandavardhana 'the most brilliant of all Sanskrit critics'.
References
External links
The ''Dhvanyaloka'' of Anandavardhana with the ''Locana'' of Abhinavagupta(for purchase only).
*Revise
(untranslated) of the ''Dhvanyāloka'', based on the edition by K. Krishnamoorthy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1982.
9th-century Indian philosophers
9th-century Indian poets
Kashmiri people
Kashmiri writers
820s births
890 deaths
Indian male poets
Scholars from Jammu and Kashmir
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The three types of poems dhwani kavya ,gunibhuta vangiya kavya ,chitra kavya are explained by Anandha vardhana . Dhvani kavya is the best poetry,Gunibhuta vangiya kavya is second class and third or low class is Chitra kavya.