3.4. Kuntaka’s views on Rasa

[Full title: A brief sketch of the contents of Vakroktijīvita, (4): Kuntaka’s views on Rasa]

Kuntaka includes rasa in some varieties of vakratas like vākya, prabandha and prakaraṇavakratā. The keen evaluation of the examples cited for the contextual and compositional figurativeness will make it clear that Kuntaka gives importance to the sentiments like karuṇa, vipralambha etc. According to Kuntaka, rasa is always an alaṅkārya and not an alaṅkāra and he criticizes Ānandavardhana, who gave a subordinate position to rasa in his rasavadalaṅkāra. This stand taken by Ānandavardhana seems to contradict his own views on rasa where he gives prominence to rasadhvani and considers it as the soul of poetry. But it is doubtless that Kuntaka always considered rasa to be the most important element in poetry.

This is clear from a statement that he had used in connection with prakaraṇavakratā, which is as follows:-

nirantararasodgāragarbhasandharbhanirbharāḥ/
giraḥ kavīnām jīvanti na kathāmātramāśritāḥ/ /^[1]

Here Kuntaka says that the words of poets live not merely depending on the story but also on the continuous flow of rasa.

In the third unmeṣa, Kuntaka maintains that rasavat is not an alaṅkāra but an alaṅkārya. If the sentiment erotic is considered as an alaṅkārya, there should be something as alaṅkāra and vice versa, but it is difficult to make such a distinction. In all other figures there is a clear distinction between alaṅkāra and alaṅkārya, but it is impossible in the case of rasavat. So rasa can never be considered as an alaṅkāra. Though there are no direct references to the nature of rasa and the process of rasāsvāda in Vakroktijīvita, Kuntaka employs the concept of rasa in his analysis of verses taken as examples of vakratā. Kuntaka is seen to provide a prominent place to rasa in his analysis of poetic charm.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

ibid,p.252.