Skip to main content

Aesthetic Delight and Beauty: A Comparison of Kant’s Aesthetics and Abhinavagupta’s Theory of Rasa

Journal of Dharma Studies volume 5, pages 51–62 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

The study aims to address the existing research gap through a thematic comparison between the aesthetics of Kant and Abhinavagupta. This paper explores Kant’s notion of aesthetic judgment based on disinterestedness with Abhinavagupta’s analysis of sādhāraṇīkaraṇa. We argue that the notions of “disinterested judgment” in Kant and sādhāraṇīkaraṇa in Abhinavagupta points towards the impersonal nature of aesthetic delight which makes the universality of aesthetic experience possible. Hence, aesthetics in both Kant and Abhinavgupta are not the personal and subjective experience but a kind of universality based on the ability to experience the impersonal joy. However, the notion of aesthetic delight in Kant is confined to the agreeable mental states only while in Abhinavgupta the notion of rasa includes both positive as well as the negative mental states like fear, disgust, etc. In this regard, the paper will also analyze the affinity between notion of sensus communius in Kant and sahṛdaya in Abhinavagupta which highlights the importance of aesthetic community and the impersonal nature of aesthetic delight.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Notes

  1. Abhinavagupta comments, for example, on a verse through which a deer’s fear of its hunter is communicated, that the deer and its fear are both freed of their particularities (AB 273). It must be stressed, however, that there still exist for him the categories of deer and fear.

Abbreviations

AB:

Abhinavabhāratī

References

Primary Sources

  • Abhinavagupta (1992). ‘Abhinavabhāratī’. In K. Krishnamoorthy (Ed.), Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharata (Vol. 1). Oriental Institute.

  • Kant, I. (1987). Critique of Judgment. Trans. Pluhar, W. Hackett Publishing Company.

Secondary Sources

  • Arendt, H. (2003). Responsibility and Judgment. Schocken Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chakrabarti, A. (2009). Play, Pleasure, Pain: Ownerless Emotions in Rasa-aesthetics. In A. Dev (Ed.) Science, Literature and Aesthetics (pp. 189–202) PHISPC, XV3, Center for Studies in Civilizations, PHISPC.

  • Guyer, P. (2008). Kant. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank and acknowledge the NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project, at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India, for supporting this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, SRM University, Amaravati, AP, India

    Saurabh Todariya

  2. School of Humanities, National Institute of Advanced Studies (IISc Campus), Bangalore, India

    Saurabh Todariya

  3. Consciousness Studies Program, National Institute of Advanced Studies (IISc Campus), Bangalore, India

    Shankar Rajaraman & Sangeetha Menon

Authors
  1. Saurabh Todariya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shankar Rajaraman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sangeetha Menon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saurabh Todariya.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Todariya, S., Rajaraman, S. & Menon, S. Aesthetic Delight and Beauty: A Comparison of Kant’s Aesthetics and Abhinavagupta’s Theory of Rasa. DHARM 5, 51–62 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42240-022-00119-4

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42240-022-00119-4

Keywords

  • Aesthetics
  • Disinterested
  • Kant
  • Sādhāraṇīkaraṇa
  • Abhinavgupta
  • Sahṛdaya