: Aesthetics and Sanskrit Literature

by Dr. Pushpendra Kumar

English and Hindi 390IntroductionIt has been contended that less has been said about aesthetics and specially Indian aesthetics than any other subject. To make any headway in aesthetics two qualities are required which rarely go together-(i) artistic sensitivity and (ii) hard, patient logical thinking. Those who are artistically sensitive do not bother their heads to analyse their experiences and discriminate the factors involved in appreciation. On the other hand, those who are capable of patient and logical thought generally lack taste. These theories might explain the facts but they are the wrong facts, that is why the progress in the field of aesthetics is said to be slow.In the last fifty years or so when there has been a renewed interest in aesthetics, persons of tastes and logical thinking have concerned themselves with the subject. While they have produced some novel theories of aesthetics, but without much advancement in the field, as each one of them has given us just another theory of aesthetics as a whole. These theories might be all very good but frequently they throw little light on the specific problems which confront the critics or anyone else, who wishes to understand and appreciate the works of art. The trouble is that we have not seriously thought of formulating the fundamental questions and their solutions in the field of aesthetics.Aesthetics may be thought in variety of ways. The historical approach consists of a chronological survey of what has been said about the nature of art, beauty, aesthetic experience etc. by the thinkers of the past. The result is rarely more than information. ‘Plato said this and Hagel said that’. The importance of such information is not to be under-estimated, but the per

Hardcover

Published April 1, 1980