Indian poetics: rasa, dhvani and alankara

In short

Indian poetics (*kavya-shastra* / *alankara-shastra*) is the classical theory of how literature produces its effect: rasa (the aesthetic emotion the audience savours), dhvani (suggested meaning, the soul of poetry) and alankara (figures of speech that ornament sound and sense). It begins with Bharata's *Natyashastra* (roughly 2nd century BCE - 2nd century CE), is systematised by Anandavardhana, Abhinavagupta and Mammata, and still supplies the working vocabulary of criticism in Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi, and of *abhinaya* in classical dance and drama. It is a guaranteed long-answer and short-note area in BA/MA literature papers, UGC-NET and CTET/TET/SET Hindi-Sanskrit papers, and in state PSC and Sahitya Akademi-linked recruitment. Interviews for teaching, editing, translation, dubbing-script and content roles routinely ask for a figure to be named in a given line, or for the *bhavas* behind a scene.

Explained

Rasa: Bharata's scheme and the rasa-sutra

• Rasa literally "juice, sap, relish" - the emotional essence of a work, tasted (*rasa-asvada*) by a sensitive spectator (*sahridaya*), not an emotion merely reported in the text.
• The rasa-sutra (*Natyashastra* VI): *vibhava-anubhava-vyabhicari-samyogad rasa-nishpattih* - rasa arises from the union of causes, effects and transient feelings.
• Sthayi-bhava - the durable emotion in the character/plot which ripens into rasa. Eight in Bharata: *rati* (love), *hasa* (mirth), *shoka* (grief), *krodha* (anger), *utsaha* (energy), *bhaya* (fear), *jugupsa* (disgust), *vismaya* (wonder).
• Vibhava - the exciting cause, of two kinds: *alambana* (the person/object loved, feared, etc.) and *uddipana* (intensifying circumstances - moonlight, a lonely garden, a battlefield drum).
• Anubhava - the visible consequents by which emotion is shown: gesture, glance, speech, posture.
• Sattvika-bhava - eight involuntary bodily signs: *stambha* (paralysis), *sveda* (sweat), *romancha* (bristling hair), *svarabheda* (broken voice), *vepathu* (trembling), *vaivarnya* (pallor), *ashru* (tears), *pralaya* (fainting).
• Vyabhicari / sanchari-bhava - thirty-three passing moods (*nirveda*, *glani*, *shanka*, *asuya*, *mada*, *shrama*, *chinta*, *smriti*, *dhriti*, *lajja*, *harsha*, *autsukya*, *nidra*, *unmada* and so on) that colour the sthayi like waves on the sea.
• Nava-rasa - Bharata's eight (*shringara, hasya, karuna, raudra, vira, bhayanaka, bibhatsa, adbhuta*); shanta (quietude, sthayi *nirveda* or *tattva-jnana*) is added by Abhinavagupta's tradition as the ninth. Later writers add bhakti (Rupa Goswami's *Bhaktirasamritasindhu*, with *madhurya* as the crown) and vatsalya (parental love).
• *Natyashastra* also assigns each rasa a colour and a presiding deity (for example shringara - light green, Vishnu; raudra - red, Rudra; karuna - dove-grey, Yama) - a favourite one-mark question.
• Shringara divides into *sambhoga* (union) and *vipralambha* (separation, with its stages - *purvaraga*, *mana*, *pravasa*, *karuna-vipralambha*).
• Rasa-dosha and rasabhasa - faults of rasa: *rasabhasa* is improper or one-sided rasa (love for an unworthy or unwilling object, many-sided love); *anaucitya* (impropriety) and abrupt breaking, excessive dwelling, or untimely interruption of rasa are the standard defects.
• Rasa-virodha and rasa-samavesha - some rasas clash (shringara with bibhatsa, vira with bhayanaka); a long work has one *angi-rasa* (principal) with others subordinate (*anga-rasa*) - Anandavardhana's rule of unity.

Four theories of how rasa is realised

1. Utpatti-vada (Bhatta Lollata) - rasa is *produced* in the character and attributed to the actor only by transference (*upacara / aropa*); a *mimamsaka*, literal reading.
2. Anumiti-vada (Shri Shankuka) - the spectator *infers* rasa from the actor's imitation; the actor is a "painted horse" - known to be unreal yet accepted.
3. Bhukti-vada (Bhatta Nayaka) - rasa is *enjoyed*; the poetic word's *bhavana* power effects sadharanikarana (generalisation), lifting the emotion out of personal self-interest.
4. Abhivyakti-vada (Abhinavagupta, *Abhinavabharati*) - the accepted view: rasa is neither produced nor inferred but manifested/suggested (*vyangya*) in the spectator, who, with obstacles (*vighnas*) of ego and time removed, rests in *vishranti* - a self-luminous relish close to *ananda*. Rasa therefore belongs to the sahridaya, not to the character.

Dhvani: the theory of suggestion

• Anandavardhana's *Dhvanyaloka* (c. 9th century, Kashmir) declares *dhvani* - suggested meaning - the atma (soul) of kavya; Abhinavagupta's commentary *Locana* consolidates it.
• Three (or four) powers of the word:
  • *Abhidha* - the primary, conventional sense (*vachyartha*, *mukhyartha*).
  • *Tatparya* - the sentence-sense that binds words (held mainly by the Mimamsakas).
  • *Lakshana* - the figurative/transferred sense, operating only when the primary sense is blocked (*mukhyartha-badha*), with a motive (*prayojana*) or by convention; divided as *upadana/lakshana-lakshana*, *sa-ropa/sadhyavasana*, *gauni/shuddha*.
  • *Vyanjana* - suggestion, which continues after both abhidha and lakshana have done their work; its content is *vyangya*, *pratiyamana artha*.
• Vyanjana is of two sources: *shabda-shakti-mula* (based on the word, typically *shlesha* - the pun suggests a second sense) and *artha-shakti-mula* (based on the sense), plus *ubhaya-shakti-mula*.
• Classification of dhvani:
  • Avivakshita-vachya (lakshana-mula) - the literal sense is not intended: *arthantara-sankramita-vachya* (the word shifts into another sense - "the king is *king*") and *atyanta-tiraskrita-vachya* (the literal sense is wholly set aside).
  • Vivakshitanyapara-vachya (abhidha-mula) - the literal sense is intended but points beyond itself: asamlakshya-krama-vyangya (the sequence is imperceptible - this is rasa-dhvani, the highest) and samlakshya-krama-vyangya (a perceptible step from stated to suggested).
• Three kinds by content: *vastu-dhvani* (a fact or situation suggested), *alankara-dhvani* (a figure suggested without being stated), *rasa-dhvani* (rasa, bhava, their rise, mixture or cessation).
• Mammata's grading of poetry (*Kavyaprakasha*): uttama = *dhvani*, where the suggested outshines the stated; madhyama = *gunibhuta-vyangya*, suggestion subordinate to statement; adhama = *chitra*, mere verbal or sense play with no suggestion.
• Opponents and alternatives: *Mimamsakas* and *Naiyayikas* denied a separate power; Mahima Bhatta (*Vyaktiviveka*) reduced dhvani to anumana (inference); Kuntaka (*Vakroktijivita*) made vakrokti - artistic deviation of the poet's speech, in six grades (*varna-vinyasa, pada-purvardha, pada-pararddha, vakya, prakarana, prabandha*) - the essence instead; Kshemendra (*Auchityavicharacharcha*) made auchitya (propriety) the life of rasa; Mukula Bhatta subsumed suggestion under extended lakshana.

Alankara: figures of sound and sense

• Alankara = ornament; the oldest school (*alankara-sampradaya*) treats figures as the defining feature of poetry. Bhamaha (*Kavyalankara*, about 39 figures), Dandin (*Kavyadarsha*, 35), Udbhata, Rudrata (68), Ruyyaka (*Alankarasarvasva*), Mammata (about 67), Appayya Dikshita (*Kuvalayananda*, over 100), Jagannatha (*Rasagangadhara*, the last great work).
• Shabdalankara (of sound) - lost in translation: *anuprasa* (alliteration - *chhekanuprasa, vrittyanuprasa, latanuprasa, antyanuprasa, shrutyanuprasa*), *yamaka* (repetition of a syllable-cluster in different senses), *shlesha* (pun - one word, two meanings), *vakrokti* (*kaku* and *shlesha* based twisting), *punarukti-vadabhasa*, *chitra* (shape/ pattern poetry).
• Arthalankara (of sense) - survives translation. Core families:
  • *Sadrishya-mula* (similarity): upama (simile), rupaka (metaphor - identification), utpreksha (fancy: "as if"), upameyopama, ananvaya, drishtanta, nidarshana, prativastupama, bhrantiman (illusion), sandeha (doubt), apahnuti (denial of the real, assertion of the fanciful), smarana, samasokti (a second sense implied by shared attributes), aprastuta-prashamsa.
  • *Virodha-mula* (opposition): virodha / virodhabhasa (paradox), vyatireka (the standard is surpassed), vishesokti, akshepa.
  • *Atishaya-mula*: atishayokti (hyperbole), vyajastuti (praise in the guise of blame or vice versa), paryayokta (indirect expression).
  • *Nyaya / tarka-mula*: kavyalinga (poetic reason), arthantaranyasa (corroboration by a general truth), anumana, yathasankhya, parisankhya, kavya-arthapatti.
  • *Shrinkhala* and others: dipaka, tulyayogita, sahokti, vinokti, svabhavokti (natural description), udatta, samuchchaya.
• Parts of an upama - four: *upameya* (the thing compared, subject), *upamana* (the standard), *sadharana dharma* (common quality), *upama-vachaka* (word of comparison: *iva, yatha*, Hindi *sa, jyon, saman*). Omit one or more and you get *lupta* (elliptical) upama; drop the vachaka and the identification becomes *rupaka*; add "as if" with a fanciful super-imposition and it is *utpreksha*.
• Alankara is subordinate, in the dhvani school, to rasa: a figure that does not serve rasa becomes a *dosha*. Anandavardhana's test is whether the ornament "falls in of itself" (*aprithag-yatna-nirvartya* - accomplished without a separate effort).

The six schools, and guna-riti-dosha

• Sampradayas: *rasa* (Bharata, Abhinavagupta), *alankara* (Bhamaha, Dandin), *riti* (Vamana), *dhvani* (Anandavardhana), *vakrokti* (Kuntaka), *auchitya* (Kshemendra); *anumiti* (Mahima Bhatta) is sometimes counted a seventh.
• Kavya-lakshana (Mammata, *Kavyaprakasha* I): *tad adoshau shabdarthau sagunav analankriti punah kvapi* - poetry is word-and-sense free of faults, possessing *gunas*, and figures "sometimes" (i.e. optional).
• Guna - qualities inhering in rasa, three in Mammata: madhurya (sweetness - shringara, karuna), ojas (force - raudra, vira, bibhatsa), prasada (lucidity - all rasas). Vamana had counted ten *shabda-gunas* and ten *artha-gunas*.
• Dosha - faults of word, sentence and sense: *shruti-kashta*, *artha-dushta*, *gramya*, *neyartha*, *klishta*, *avimrishta-vidheyamsha* (the predicate wrongly compounded), *bhagna-prakrama*, *punarukta*.
• Riti - style as the "arrangement of words": Vaidarbhi (sweet, short compounds), Gaudi (grand, long compounds, harsh letters), Panchali (mixed); *Latiya* added later. Vamana: *ritir atma kavyasya*.
• Kavya types: *drishya* (drama) and *shravya* (read) - the latter as *mahakavya*, *khanda-kavya*, *muktaka*; by medium *gadya*, *padya*, *mishra* (*champu*).

Reception in the modern Indian languages

• Hindi: the *riti-kala* (c. 1650-1850) is built on this material - Keshavdas (*Rasikpriya*, *Kavipriya*), Chintamani Tripathi, Bhikharidas (*Kavya-nirnaya*), Dev, Padmakar; Bihari's *Satsai* is a textbook of *nayika-bheda* and figures. In the modern period Ramchandra Shukla, Nagendra and Hazariprasad Dwivedi re-read rasa against Western criticism.
• Tamil: *Tolkappiyam* (Porulathikaram) has an independent emotion-theory, meyppadu - eight states: *nakai, azhukai, ilivaral, marutkai, accam, perumitam, veguli, uvakai* - with *uvamai* (simile) treated in its own *uvamaiyiyal*; the *akam/puram* division and *tinai-turai* conventions parallel but are not derived from rasa.
• Kannada: *Kavirajamarga* (9th century, Srivijaya) adapts Dandin; Telugu: Peddana and the *prabandha* poets work with *alankara* and *rasa*; Malayalam: *Lilatilakam* (14th century) applies Sanskrit poetics to Manipravalam; Marathi and Bengali Vaishnava poetics develop *bhakti-rasa* after Rupa Goswami.
• Urdu uses the Perso-Arabic system instead - *balaghat* with *ilm-e-bayan*, *ma'ani* and *badi'*: *tashbih* (simile), *isti'ara* (metaphor), *kinaya*, *talmih* (allusion), *iham* (ambiguity), *mura'at-un-nazir*, *tazad*, *husn-e-ta'lil*. Comparative questions on *isti'ara* versus *rupaka*, or *mazmun* versus *vyangya*, are common.

Key points

• Rasa - the generalised aesthetic emotion relished by the spectator; the *Natyashastra*'s central concept.
• Rasa-sutra - *vibhava + anubhava + vyabhicari-bhava* combine to bring rasa about.
• Sthayi-bhava - the abiding emotion (eight); its matured, impersonal form is rasa.
• Vibhava - cause, split into *alambana* (object) and *uddipana* (stimulant).
• Anubhava - outward expression; sattvika-bhava - the eight involuntary signs.
• Vyabhicari-bhava - 33 transient moods supporting the sthayi.
• Nava-rasa - eight plus *shanta*; *bhakti* and *vatsalya* are later additions.
• Sadharanikarana - Bhatta Nayaka's generalisation, which de-personalises the emotion.
• Abhivyakti-vada - Abhinavagupta: rasa is suggested, not produced or inferred; the accepted view.
• Dhvani - suggested sense; *kavyasyatma dhvanih* - the soul of poetry (Anandavardhana).
• Vyanjana - the fourth word-power, after *abhidha*, *tatparya* and *lakshana*.
• Rasa-dhvani (asamlakshya-krama) - the highest dhvani, where the step from stated to suggested is imperceptible.
• Uttama / madhyama / adhama kavya - *dhvani* / *gunibhuta-vyangya* / *chitra* (Mammata).
• Alankara - *shabdalankara* (sound: anuprasa, yamaka, shlesha) and *arthalankara* (sense: upama, rupaka, utpreksha...).
• Four limbs of upama - upameya, upamana, sadharana dharma, upama-vachaka.
• Riti - Vaidarbhi, Gaudi, Panchali; guna - madhurya, ojas, prasada; dosha - faults of word and sense.
• Vakrokti (Kuntaka) and auchitya (Kshemendra) - rival "souls" of poetry; Mahima Bhatta reduced dhvani to inference.
• Angi-rasa - the one dominant rasa that a long work must sustain; clashing rasas must be subordinated.

Examples

Case 1 - Analysing rasa in a scene. Sita, alone in Ashoka-vana, hears Hanuman speak Rama's name; moonlight, the garden, Rama's ring.

• *Sthayi-bhava:* rati (love) → rasa is shringara, specifically *vipralambha* of the *pravasa* type (separation by distance), shading into *karuna* at points.
• *Alambana-vibhava:* Rama (the beloved, absent); *uddipana-vibhava:* the moonlit grove, the ring, Hanuman's message.
• *Anubhava:* tears, broken speech, clutching the ring, repeated questioning.
• *Sattvika-bhava:* ashru (tears), vepathu (trembling), svarabheda (broken voice), vaivarnya (pallor).
• *Vyabhicari-bhava:* *autsukya* (longing), *chinta* (anxiety), *shanka* (doubt - is this a demon's trick?), *harsha* (joy), *dhriti* (resolve).
• *Answer:* angi-rasa = shringara (vipralambha), with *karuna* as *anga-rasa*; realised as rasa-dhvani (asamlakshya-krama), because no word states "she is in love".

Case 2 - Vastu-dhvani (a fact suggested). Anandavardhana's stock illustration: *"Go freely, holy man, the little dog that used to frighten you has been killed - by the fierce lion that now lives on the riverbank."*

• *Vachyartha* (abhidha): the dog is dead; the way is clear.
• *Lakshana:* not required - the literal sense stands.
• *Vyangya:* a warning - do not go at all. Suggested fact, so vastu-dhvani, of the *vivakshitanyapara-vachya / samlakshya-krama* type, *artha-shakti-mula*.
• *Answer:* uttama kavya by Mammata's test, since the suggested sense overwhelms the stated.

Case 3 - Naming the figure, line by line. Bihari: *"sohata odhe pita pata shyama salone gata / manahun nilamani saila para atapa parayo prabhata."*

• Dark-limbed Krishna in a yellow garment is imagined as if a sapphire hill on which morning sunlight has fallen.
• The vachaka *manahun* ("as if") plus a fanciful super-imposition on the subject = utpreksha (not upama, which needs a real standard of comparison, and not rupaka, which asserts identity without "as if").
• Secondary: *anuprasa* in *shyama salone*, and svabhavokti in the visual detail.

Case 4 - Distinguishing upama, rupaka, utpreksha, atishayokti and apahnuti on one subject, "her face / the moon":

Case 5 - Shlesha becoming dhvani. Rahim: *"Rahiman pani rakhiye, bina pani sab sun / pani gaye na ubhare, moti manus chun."*

• *Pani* carries three senses by shlesha: lustre (for the pearl), self-respect/honour (for a person), water (for lime, *chun*).
• Because a single word's power yields the second and third senses, this is shabda-shakti-mula vyanjana, with *arthantaranyasa* support (a general truth corroborating the advice).
• *Answer:* figure = shlesha, and the moral counsel is vastu-dhvani; the verse is *uttama* if the suggestion dominates, *gunibhuta-vyangya* (madhyama) if the stated maxim does.

Quick-reference: sthayi-bhava to rasa

Where it is used

• Teaching and examinations: BA/MA Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi and Urdu syllabi under UGC CBCS; UGC-NET/JRF, state SET, CTET/TET and Sanskrit-board (Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan / Central Sanskrit University) papers; TGT/PGT recruitment by KVS and NVS.
• Publishing, editing and translation: NCERT and state-board textbook writing, Sahitya Akademi and National Book Trust translation projects, where *rasa*-fidelity and figure-handling decide the rendering; critical editions and commentaries.
• Performing arts: *abhinaya* training in Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi and Kathak rests on *bhava-rasa-abhinaya* (*Natyashastra*, Nandikeshvara's *Abhinayadarpana*); syllabi of Sangeet Natak Akademi-affiliated institutions and the National School of Drama.
• Screen, OTT and advertising: script and dialogue work, dubbing and subtitling, and campaign writing use rasa-logic (which single emotion a film or 30-second spot must sustain) and *vyangya* for slogans and taglines.
• Research and cultural institutions: IGNCA, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, museum and manuscript work (National Mission for Manuscripts), All India Radio and Doordarshan literary programming, journals of comparative poetics.
• Content and language technology: sentiment and emotion annotation schemes for Indian-language corpora, where the nine-rasa taxonomy is used as a label set, and in literary-text digitisation projects.

Interview questions

• Q: State and explain Bharata's rasa-sutra. A: *Vibhava-anubhava-vyabhicari-samyogad rasa-nishpattih* - rasa comes about from the conjunction of determinants (vibhava), consequents (anubhava) and transient feelings (vyabhicari-bhava), working on the sthayi-bhava.
• Q: What is the difference between bhava and rasa? A: Bhava is the emotion as it exists in the character or is depicted in the text; rasa is that emotion generalised and relished impersonally by the sahridaya.
• Q: Who added shanta-rasa, and why was it disputed? A: The *shanta* chapter is associated with Abhinavagupta's tradition; objectors argued detachment has no *anubhavas* to show on stage, and so cannot be dramatised.
• Q: What is sadharanikarana? A: Bhatta Nayaka's concept of generalisation - the poetic word strips the emotion of personal reference, so the spectator feels grief without being the bereaved.
• Q: Why is Abhinavagupta's abhivyakti-vada preferred over utpatti and anumiti? A: Rasa is neither manufactured nor logically inferred; it is manifested directly in the spectator's consciousness, which explains the immediacy and the pleasure even of grief and fear.
• Q: What does Anandavardhana mean by *kavyasyatma dhvanih*? A: That the soul of poetry is the suggested meaning, not figures, style or the literal sense - making alankara and guna subordinate to dhvani.
• Q: Distinguish lakshana from vyanjana. A: Lakshana operates only when the primary sense is blocked and supplies a transferred sense; vyanjana needs no such block and continues after abhidha and lakshana, yielding an added, unstated sense.
• Q: Name the three kinds of dhvani by content. A: *Vastu-dhvani* (a situation or fact suggested), *alankara-dhvani* (a figure suggested), *rasa-dhvani* (rasa or bhava suggested) - the last being the highest.
• Q: How does Mammata grade poetry? A: *Dhvani* (suggestion dominant) is *uttama*; *gunibhuta-vyangya* (suggestion subordinate) is *madhyama*; *chitra*, mere word or sense play, is *adhama*.
• Q: Differentiate upama, rupaka and utpreksha with one example each. A: "Face like the moon" (upama - comparison with a vachaka), "face-moon" (rupaka - identification), "as if the moon had descended" (utpreksha - fanciful super-imposition).
• Q: What is rasabhasa? A: Defective or improper rasa - love directed at an unworthy or unwilling object, or divided among many - where the emotion appears but cannot ripen into genuine rasa.
• Q: Which thinkers opposed dhvani, and with what alternative? A: Mahima Bhatta replaced it with inference (*Vyaktiviveka*), Kuntaka with *vakrokti*, Kshemendra with *auchitya*, and Mukula Bhatta with an extended *lakshana*.
• Q: Does Tamil poetics use rasa? A: *Tolkappiyam* has its own eight *meyppadu*, an independent emotion-scheme; later Tamil commentators map it onto rasa, but the two systems arise separately.

Common mistakes

• Treating rasa as the emotion of the character; it is the generalised relish of the audience - the character has *bhava*.
• Confusing *vibhava* with *anubhava* - cause versus visible effect - or listing *sattvika-bhavas* among the 33 *vyabhicaris* (they are a separate set of eight).
• Calling every "as if" line an *upama*: the vachaka plus a fanciful, non-real standard makes it *utpreksha*; identification without a vachaka makes it *rupaka*.
• Equating *dhvani* with *lakshana* or with simple metaphor; dhvani needs no blocking of the primary sense and often works through a wholly literal statement.
• Writing that Anandavardhana or Mammata rejected alankara: they subordinated it to rasa and dhvani, and Mammata's definition keeps figures as *kvapi* - optional.
• Attributing works wrongly - *Dhvanyaloka* to Abhinavagupta (he wrote the *Locana*), *Kavyaprakasha* to Mammata's commentators, or *Vakroktijivita* to Mahima Bhatta.
• Giving the eight rasas but forgetting the sthayi-bhava each rests on, which is what the marks are usually for; and naming nine rasas while calling them all Bharata's.

Related topics

Prosody and metre in Indian languages · Literary criticism and theory · Natyashastra and classical Indian drama · Bhakti and Sufi poetry traditions · Comparative poetics: Sanskrit, Tamil and Perso-Arabic · Translation studies in Indian languages