Abstract
This article is an attempt at understanding the use that Abhinavagupta (950–1020?), the Kashmiri Śaiva philosopher and scholar of poetics, makes of a few concepts and theories stemming from the tradition of Vedic ritual exegesis (Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā). Its starting point is the detailed analysis of a key passage in Abhinavagupta’s commentary on the “aphorism on rasa(s)” of the Nāṭyaśāstra, where the learned commentator draws an analogy between the operation of the non-prescriptive portions of the Veda in the ritual and the “generalisation” (sādhāraṇīkaraṇa) taking place, according to him, in the appreciation of a work of art. Arguing against the tendency of modern historiography to explain this analogy exclusively in terms of Kumārila’s theory of effectuation (bhāvanā) in its two modalities, the article endeavours to show how Abhinavagupta relies on a variety of other textual sources he knew extensively and presumably first-hand. Some of them belong to the great Mīmāṃsaka tradition (Śabara, possibly Maṇḍana Miśra); others, to different trends of medieval Brahmanism claiming exegetical heritage, as in the case of Jayanta Bhaṭṭa’s Nyāyamañjarī The nature of Abhinavagupta’s debt to Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka and his concept of bhāvanā is also reconsidered in light of these new findings. This investigation finally leads to identify, in the Abhinavabhāratī, an original theory of scriptural narratives and their efficacy, irreducible to any of its exegetical (or pseudo-exegetical) sources. According to this theory, mythological passages of the Veda directly prompt action (as would a Vedic injunction), through the same capacity of abstraction or “de-temporalisation” that is at work in our appraisal of literature and theatre.
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Notes
Unless otherwise specified, the text is quoted as in the edition of the Vaidika Saṃśodhana Maṇḍala.
The text is quoted as in R. Kavi’s second edition (= Ed1956).
Abbreviations
- ABh:
-
Abhinavabhāratī
- MīSū:
-
Mīmāṃsāsūtra
- MPVr̥-V:
-
Mataṅgaparameśvaravr̥tti (Vidyāpāda)
- NM:
-
Nyāyamañjarī
- NPPr:
-
Nareśvaraparīkṣāprakāśa
- ŚBh:
-
Śabara’s Mīmāṃsā(sūtra)bhāṣya
- SV:
-
svavr̥tti
- TV:
-
Tantravārttika
- TS:
-
Taittirīyasaṃhitā
- ViV:
-
Vidhiviveka
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Unless otherwise specified, the text is quoted as in the edition of the Vaidika Saṃśodhana Maṇḍala.
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Nāṭyaśāstra, attributed to Bharata. See Abhinavabhāratī.Footnote
The text is quoted as in R. Kavi’s second edition (= Ed1956).
Nyāyakaṇikā of Vācaspati Miśra. See Vidhiviveka.
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See also Mīmāṃsā(sūtra)bhāṣya.
Mīmāṃsā(sūtra)bhāṣya [ŚBh] of Śabara(svāmin): [Ed1976–84:] śrīmajjaiminipraṇīte mīmāṃsādarśane (…). 7 vol. Eds Subbaśāstrī, Kāśīnātha Vāsudeva Abhyaṃkara and Gaṇeśaśāstrī Ambādāsa Jośī. Poona: Ānandāśrama Press (Ānandāśrama- saṃskr̥tagranthāvaliḥḥ 97.1–7). 1976–1984.
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Vākyapadīya of Bhartr̥hari. See Rau (1977).
Vākyārthamātr̥kā and Vr̥tti thereon, by Śālikanātha Miśra: Prakaraṇapañcikā of Śālikanātha Miśra, with Nyāyasiddhi of Jaipuri Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa. Ed. A. Subrahmanya Sastri. Benares: Banaras Hindu University (B.H.U. Darśana Series). 1961.
Vidhiviveka [ViV] of Maṇḍana Miśra: M = Vidhivivekaḥ, śrīmadācāryamaṇḍanamiśraviracitaḥ, pūjyapādaśrīmadvācaspatimiśranirmitayā nyāyakaṇikākhyayā vyākhyayā samalaṅkr̥taḥ. Ed. Mānavallyupāhvatailaṅgarāmaśāstrī. Benares: “Medical Hall” Mudraṇālaya (Reprint from “The Pandit”). 1907.
G = Vidhivivekaḥ of Śrī Maṇḍana Miśra, with the Commentary Nyāyakaṇikā of Vācaspati Miśra. Ed. Mahāprabhu Lāl Goswamī. Benares: Tārā Printing Works (Prācyabhāratī Series 8). 1978.
S = Stern (1988).
Śābdanirṇaya of Prakāśātman: See David (2012).
G = The Śābdanirṇaya by Prakāśātmayatīndra. Ed. T. Gaṇapati Śāstrī. Trivandrum (Trivandrum Sanskrit Series 53). 1917.
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This article is the partial outcome of the project “Speech and action in early Brahmanical philosophy,” carried out at the University of Cambridge with the generous support of the Royal Society of Great Britain (Newton International Fellowship). Special thanks are due to Daniele Cuneo and Elisa Ganser for their remarks and criticism, and for sharing with me important unpublished materials including digital images of three manuscripts of the Abhinavabhāratī. I also thank Vincenzo Vergiani for very useful comments on an earlier version of this text, and D. Cuneo for allowing me to use his hitherto unpublished PhD thesis.
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David, H. Time, Action and Narration. On Some Exegetical Sources of Abhinavagupta’s Aesthetic Theory. J Indian Philos 44, 125–154 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-014-9256-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-014-9256-1