Related to Sringara in kavyas. I just enjoyed reading the discussions
went on TELUSA. It is nice to read Sri veluri gari brief article.
I just wanted to convey my ideas about it. Please understand this...
I have no touch about western literature other than reading a few books
given by one of my learned friend. Hence I can not comment on western
literature. Coming to the indian literature (telugu, sanskrit) what
ever I understood through, I shall try to discuss.
SRINGARA :
~~~~~~~~~~
I read a book on upanishads written by a staunch marxist Sri Etukuri
Balarama Murty. It is "upanishad chintana" supposed to be the
book written on upanishads. He says that erotica is the thing which
students like the most. So the teachers tried to convey the truth
to the students in a erotic way. In supporting his argument he
quotes a teaching in Tittiriya Upanishad "coocukA iva avalaMbatE"
(The atman hangs in the heart like a nipple of the breast".
One can easily be carried away by reading his essays. I agree
they are very good in expression, only. A deeper thought, perhaps,
indepth retrospection about our upanishad period will break open
our eyes and whisper in our brain the deeper meaning and significance
of the teaching.
A maniac only can get excited by looking at a mother's breast
feeding her child. I am sure those days everyone
must have been fed by his mother's breast only. If a teacher
,as an example, trying to convey through the familiar object..
does it convey any erotic meaning ?. Let it be.
There is one saying in our Yajurveda "yA tE rudra SSivA tanU
raghOrApApakASini" means Oh rudra you have two faces one
is dreadful and one is peaceful.
If one starts thinking logically, he can find himself in a
labyrinth. How can a person have two faces? If I have
a black face, I can not have a white face. It is not at all
posible for me to have two faces simultaneously.
In order to understand this we need the help of "Nirukta".
The oldest indian etimiological text which has been ingnored
by many people (including our great Maxmuller!). With out
having the knowledge of Nirukta one can never understand
the deeper meaning of our Vedic, vedantic, bhakti literature.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nirukta says "rudrOvA Esha yadagniH tasya EtE tanuvO
ghOrA anyA SivA anyA". Here, the rudra is like the
fire having two faces one is dreadful and the other is
peaceful. People are there who use fire for Domestic
purposes, and, people are there who use fire for brideburning.
It is the same fire they are using. The same fire having
two faces.
It is the nature that is been told over there. Similarly
we use Atom for peaceful purposes as well as for destructive
purposes.
Hence in our vedas significant inner meaning was intended.
PLEASE DO NOT THINK THAT I AM GOING OUT OF SUBJECT.
I AM JUST PREPARING GROUND WHERE I CAN STAND AND SPEAK.
If we consider our vedas as a literature and from there if we
establish a link, we can easily find out the purpose of each
and every aspect of our literature.
Sringara is a part of our life. It is recognised as a part of
kavya and in kavya lakshnas it is stated that one can choose
according to his intentions.
sRUMgAraveera SAntAnAmEkOMgee rasa ishyatE |
aMgAni sarvEpi rasAh sarvE nATakasaMdhayah ||
- sAhitya darpaNa VI 317
The predominant sentiment (rasa) of a Mahakavya should be the
SRUmgAra (the sentiment of Love), or the veera (The sentiment of
Heroism), or the SAnta (the sentiment of Quietism); and all the
other sentiments should be subsidiary to it.
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The text is going to become too long and I am afraid; violating
TELUSA rules. Forgive me I shall continue tomorrow ....
Yours with earnest regards
-Madhava