Presentation Title
Harmonizing Poetic Expressivity and Craft: Rūpa Gosvāmin’s Citrakavitvāni
Location
Hanover Duxbury Room
Start Date
12-10-2013 2:00 PM
End Date
12-10-2013 3:30 PM
Abstract
By the 16th century, the stotra (hymn of praise) was one of the most productive genres of Sanskrit literary output. The literary value of this genre has been disparaged in both traditional Sanskrit poetics and modern scholarship. This is especially true of highly ornate poetry which was thought no to be able to evoke an emotional response (rasa) in its audiences. This paper re-evaluates ornate stotra, arguing that the genre was cultivated in the late medieval period so as to make it a vehicle for evoking such rasa. The paper specifically examines Rūpa Gosvāmin’s Citrakavitvāni (Ornate Poems), demonstrating Rūpa’s careful focus on the emotional expressivity of the verses as well as their verbal and semantic embellishment. This re-evaluation is framed by a consideration of arguments made in this period for the inclusion of bhakti (devotion) as a mode of rasa.
Harmonizing Poetic Expressivity and Craft: Rūpa Gosvāmin’s Citrakavitvāni
Hanover Duxbury Room
By the 16th century, the stotra (hymn of praise) was one of the most productive genres of Sanskrit literary output. The literary value of this genre has been disparaged in both traditional Sanskrit poetics and modern scholarship. This is especially true of highly ornate poetry which was thought no to be able to evoke an emotional response (rasa) in its audiences. This paper re-evaluates ornate stotra, arguing that the genre was cultivated in the late medieval period so as to make it a vehicle for evoking such rasa. The paper specifically examines Rūpa Gosvāmin’s Citrakavitvāni (Ornate Poems), demonstrating Rūpa’s careful focus on the emotional expressivity of the verses as well as their verbal and semantic embellishment. This re-evaluation is framed by a consideration of arguments made in this period for the inclusion of bhakti (devotion) as a mode of rasa.
Comments
Presentation is included in Panel 20: Language and Logic in Classical India