Why Sarus Cranes epitomize Karunarasa in the Ramayana
Författare
Summary, in English
By correlating literary evidence, avian ethology and neurophysiology I will try to demonstrate why Valmiki chose a pair of Sarus Cranes, and not any other avian species, to epitomise grief and sorrow in the Ramayana. This choice illustrates the importance of personal experience of the living reality (behaviour of Sarus Cranes); but the grief, soka, as experienced by Valmiki, became in later critical literature, the rasa of karuna, the aesthetic appreciation of grief, as suggested by Anandavardhana and explained by Abhinavagupta. By emphasising the central importance of affective states (sthayibhavas) in life as well as in the arts (rasas) Valmiki, Abhinavagupta and Anandavardhana appear to have had a perception of the human condition that is consistent with recent developments in affective neuroscience; and thus it is the pitch and the tonal quality of the cries of grief that convey the depth and universality (sadharanatva) of the emotion.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2009
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
187-211
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
Volym
19
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Cambridge University Press
Ämne
- History of Religions
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1474-0591