HOME





Bhava (mood)
Indian art evolved with an emphasis on inducing special spiritual or philosophical states in the audience, or with representing them symbolically. Rasas in the performing arts The theory of rasas still forms the aesthetic underpinning of all Indian classical dance and theatre, such as Bharatanatyam, kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Kudiyattam, Kathakali and others. Expressing ''rasa'' in classical Indian dance form is referred to as ''rasa-abhinaya''. The ''Nātyasāstra'' carefully delineates the '' bhavas'' used to create each ''rasa''. The expressions used in Kudiyattam or Kathakali are extremely exaggerated theatrical expressions. The opposite of this interpretation is Balasaraswathi's school of subtle and understated abhinaya of the devadasis. There were serious public debates when Balasaraswathi condemned Rukmini Devi's puritanistic interpretations and applications of Sringara rasa. The abhinaya of the Melattur style of abhinaya remains extremely rich in varia ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Bhagavata
The Bhagavata (; , IAST: ''Bhāgavata'' ) tradition, also called Bhagavatism (), is an ancient religious sect that traced its origin to the region of Mathura. After its syncretism with the Brahmanical tradition of Vishnu, Bhagavatism became a pan-Indian tradition by the second century BCE, according to R.C. Majumdar. Historically, Bhagavatism corresponds to the development of a popular theistic movement in India, departing from the elitist sacrificial rites of Vedism, and initially focusing on the worship of the Vrishni hero Vāsudeva in the region of Mathura."A cult of Vāsudeva, known as Bhagavatism, was already in existence by the second century BC." in It later assimilated into the concept of Narayana Vishnu was by then assimilated with Narayana where Krishna is conceived as '' svayam bhagavan''. According to some historical scholars, worship of Krishna emerged in the 1st century BCE. However, Vaishnava traditionalists place it in the 4th century BCE. Despite th ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Tyagaraja
Sadguru Tyagaraja Swami ( Telugu: సద్గురు త్యాగరాజ స్వామి; 4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Tyagayya, and in full as Kakarla Tyagabrahmam ( Telugu: కాకర్ల త్యాగబ్రహ్మం), was a Hindu saint and composer of Carnatic music, a form of Indian classical music. Tyagaraja and his contemporaries, Shyama Shastri and Muthuswami Dikshitar, are regarded as the Trinity of Carnatic music. Tyagaraja composed hundreds of devotional compositions, most in Telugu and in praise of Rama, many of which remain popular today. Of special mention are five of his compositions called the '' Pancharatna Kritis'' ( "five gems"), which are often sung in programs in his honour. Tyagaraja composed ''Utsava Sampradaya Krithis'' ( Festive ritual compositions), which are often sung to accompany temple rituals and Divya Nama Sankeertanas ( Divine name compositions) which are sung as a part of concerts and in daily life. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Natya Shastra
The ''Nāṭya Shāstra'' (, ''Nāṭyaśāstra'') is a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts. The text is attributed to sage Bharata, and its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary between 500 BCE and 500 CE. The text consists of 36 chapters with a cumulative total of 6,000 poetic verses describing performance arts. The subjects covered by the treatise include dramatic composition, structure of a play and the construction of a stage to host it, genres of acting, body movements, make up and costumes, role and goals of an art director, the musical scales, musical instruments and the integration of music with art performance. The ''Nāṭya Śāstra'' is notable as an ancient encyclopedic treatise on the arts, one which has influenced dance, music and literary traditions in India. It is also notable for its aesthetic "Rasa" theory, which asserts that entertainment is a desired effect of performance arts but not t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ātman (Hinduism)
''Ātman'' (; ) is a Sanskrit word for the true or eternal Self or the self-existent essence or an impersonal (''it'') witness-consciousness within each individual. Atman is conceptually different from Jīvātman, which persists across multiple bodies and lifetimes. Some schools of Indian philosophy regard the ''Ātman'' as distinct from the material or mortal ego ('' Ahankara''), the emotional aspect of the mind ('' Citta''), and existence in an embodied form ('' Prakṛti''). The term is often translated as soul, but is better translated as "Self", as it solely refers to pure consciousness or witness-consciousness, beyond identification with phenomena. In order to attain moksha (liberation), a human being must acquire self-knowledge ('' Atma Gyaan or Brahmajnana''). ''Ātman'' is a central concept in the various schools of Indian philosophy, which have different views on the relation between ''Atman'', individual Self ('' Jīvātman''), supreme Self ('' Paramātmā'') a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta (Devanāgarī अभिनवगुप्तः; 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, page 4 – a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture. Abhinavagupta was born in a Kānyakubja Brāhmin family of scholars and mystics whose ancestors immigrated from Kannauj on invitation by the great king of Kashmir, Lalitaditya Muktapida. He studied all the schools of philosophy and art of his time under the guidance of as many as fifteen (or more) teachers and gurus. In his long life he completed over 35 works, the largest and most famous of which is '' Tantrāloka'', an encyclopedic treatise on all the philosophical and practical aspects of Kaula and Trika (known today as Kashmir Shaivism). Another one of his very important contributions was in the field ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kashmir Shaivism
Kashmir Shaivism tradition is a 20th century umbrella-term for a body of Sanskrit learning, Sanskrit exegetical literature from several Nondualism, non-dualist Shaivism, Shaiva-Shaktism, Shakta Tantra, tantric and Monism, monistic religious traditions, often used synonymously for the Trika-school or the "Philosophy of Recognition" (''Pratyabhijna, Pratyabhijnad''). These traditions originated in Kashmir after 850 CE, as an Sanskritization, adaptation to upper-class Hindu norms of 'wild' tantric Kaula (Hinduism), Kaula traditions. Trika Shaivism later spread beyond Kashmir, particularly flourishing in the states of Odisha and Maharashtra. Defining features of the Trika tradition are its Idealism, idealistic and Monism, monistic ''pratyabhijna'' ("direct knowledge of one's self," "recognition") philosophical system, propounded by Utpaladeva (c. 925–975 CE) and Abhinavagupta (c. 975–1025 CE), and the use of several triades in its philosophy, including the three goddesses Par ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Aesthetic Distance
Aesthetic distance refers to the gap between a viewer's conscious reality and the fictional reality presented in a work of art. When a reader becomes fully engrossed (also known as being 'immersed') in the illusory narrative world of a book, the author has achieved a close aesthetic distance. If the author then jars the reader from the reality of the story, essentially reminding the reader they are reading a book, the author is said to have "violated the aesthetic distance." Overview The concept originates from Immanuel Kant's ''Critique of Judgement'', where he establishes the notion of ''disinterested delight'' which does not depend on the subject's having a desire for the object itself, he writes, "delight in beautiful art does not, in the pure judgement of taste, involve an immediate interest. ..it is not the object that is of immediate interest, but rather the inherent character of the beauty qualifying it for such a partnership-a character, therefore, that belongs to the ve ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Shanta Rasa
Śāntarasa (Sanskrit: , occasionally spelled ''shantarasa'', ''santarasa''; ) is considered a ninth rasa, a concept of aesthetic flavour in Sanskrit literature. According to one translation of '' Abhinavabhārati'', Abhinavagupta's commentary on ''Nāṭyaśāstra'', may be defined as: "that which brings happiness and welfare to all beings and which is accompanied by the stabilization () in the Self". It has as its stable emotion ( sthāyibhāva) impassivity () which culminates in detachment (Vairāgya) arising from knowledge of truth and purity of mind. J L Masson and M V Patwardhan, who have collected the original manuscripts and translated Abhinavagupta's work, observe: the audience undergoes transcendental experience, which is basic to all aesthetic experience in a play based on . It was not included in the list of rasas mentioned by Bharata in his epic Nāṭyaśāstra. The inclusion of this rasa as a prominent one in Sanskrit poetry and dramaturgy is attributed to Udbhata ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Anandavardhana
Ānandavardhana (c. 820 – 890 CE) was a Kashmiri court poet and literary critic, honored with the title of Rajanak during King Avantivarman's reign. Anandavardhana authored the ''Dhvanyāloka'', or ''A Light on Suggestion'' ('' dhvani''), a work articulating the philosophy of "aesthetic suggestion" (''dhvani'', ''vyañjanā''). Ānandavardhana is credited with creating the ''dhvani'' theory. He wrote that ''dhvani'' (meaning sound, or resonance) 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." 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. Ānandavardhana is mentioned in Kalhana's Rajatarangini ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kali Yuga
''Kali Yuga'' (Devanagari: कलियुग), in Hinduism, is the fourth, shortest, and worst of the four '' yugas'' (world ages) in a '' Yuga cycle'', preceded by '' Dvapara Yuga'' and followed by the next cycle's '' Krita (Satya) Yuga''. It is believed to be the present age, which is full of conflict and sin. According to Puranic sources, Krishna's death marked the end of '' Dvapara Yuga'' and the start of ''Kali Yuga'', which is dated to 17/18 February 3102  BCE. Lasting for 432,000 years (1,200 divine years), ''Kali Yuga'' began years ago and has years left as of   CE. ''Kali Yuga'' will end in the year 428,899 CE. Near the end of ''Kali Yuga'', when virtues are at their worst, a cataclysm and a re-establishment of ''dharma'' occur to usher in the next cycle's ''Krita (Satya) Yuga'', prophesied to occur by Kalki. Etymology '' Yuga'' (), in this context, means "an age of the world", where its archaic spelling is ''yug'', with other forms of ''yugam'', , a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]