The Concept of Dhvani in Sanskrit

THE CONCEPT OF DHVANI IN SANSKRIT
LITERARY CRITICISM

The primary text which deals with dhvani is Dhvanyaloka of Anan­davardhana who is presumed to have lived in the ninth century A.D. In the very first verse of Dhvanyaloka, we are told that dhvani or suggestion is the soul of poetry. The words constitute the body of poetry, to which “dhvani” furnishes the soul, the breath of life. The body of poetry can be scientifically analysed by a knowledge of grammar and the dictionary, prosody, meta­phors and the rest. But dhvani, its soul, can only be felt directly by culti­vated and sensitive persons who understand its true nature by direct appreciation (1.7). It is only great poets who have the power of using language in such a way as to evoke in sensitive minds a suggested meaning over and above the primary meaning of words (1.8).

However, Anandavardhana does not mean to suggest that words and primary meanings are unimportant. The expressed meaning is important; yet the suggested meaning remains the all-important thing, the prime source of aesthetic appeal in poetry of the first rank. The relation of the two is compared to the relation of the meanings of individual words to the meaning of a sentence as a whole. No one can really grasp the meaning of a sentence unless he knows the mean­ing of the words. But those who know the language do not form mental im­ages of the meanings of words and then put them together to get the ­meaning of the sentence. By the time the sentence is finished, its meaning as a unit flashes through the mind of the listener. In the same way, dhvani, flashes into the mind of the aesthetically sensitive listener the moment he grasps the prima facie meaning.

Ananda’s basic postulate is that utterances possess a literal meaning, and can also convey a further mean­ing.

The scheme of classification which he adopts is fairly detailed and one can give only the outlines of it here. The main subdivision is into two types, first, the type where the literal sense is not intended (avivaksita - va­cya); and second, the type where the literal sense is in fact intended, but subserves the implied sense (vivaksi­tanyapara - vacya), the first of these is again subdivided into two: the type where the literal sense is completely set aside (atyantatiraskita-vacya), and the type where the literal meaning is shifted (arthantarasamkramita - va­cya). The first of those embraces what we should normally call metaphor; but it is, so to speak, motivated metaphor, where the metaphorically used words are employed with the definite inten­tion of conveying their associations, or producing a striking effect. The second sub-variety is an interesting one, and covers cases where a word is used in an enhanced or diminished sense.

Poetry is classified into three kinds in relation to the suggested sense. The best kind is called dhvani­kaoya in which the suggested sense predominates and supersedes the expressed. The second is called gunibhuta - vyangya kaoya wherein the suggested sense is of either equal or inferior prominence. The third is called citra or pictorial poetry where the suggested element is absent; un­der this is included verse full of poetic figures and rhymes and alliteration.

There are various kinds of dhvani and they are classified in several different ways: according to the way in which the suggested meaning is related to the prima facie meaning; ac­cording to the element in the text which effects the suggestion of dhvani, and according to the nature per se of dhvani, the suggested meaning itself. The dhvani - suggesting element may be a word or a sentence or a paragraph or a stanza or an entire compo­sition. Classified by its relation to the prima facie meaning, dhvani falls into two fundamental types. In one the prima facie meaning is not really meant; in the other, it is meant, but exists for the sake of something else; its artistic raison d’etre is something not directly said in words. With regard to the third principle of classification based on the nature of dhvani per se, the suggested meaning may be of three kinds. It may be a “thing” (vastu), concrete or abstract; it could be an objective fact, an event or occur­rence, an interpretative generalisation, a principle or rationalisation, anything that could be said in words except a poetic figure. Secondly the unsaid meaning may be a poetic figure which also can be said in words but could be indirectly hinted at as in veiled meta­phors and allegories. The third type of dhvani is the most important type of dhvani. It is called rasa – dhvani where in rasa or flavour or emotion or mood or sentiment is the essence of poetry. Rasa is the realisation of one’s own consciousness. It is an ideal and impersonalised form of joy. The rasa manifested is universal in character and the aesthetic pleasure resulting from it is general and disinterested and not particular. Rasa can only be suggested but not described.

The unexpressed is bound up by means of definite links with the expressed, without which it cannot exist; but it is wrapped up in such a manner as to make it possible only for the initiated in the poetic hieroglyphics to comprehend it in its subtlety. The unexpressed is not understood by those who know only grammar and lexicon, but only by men of taste and literary instinct who know the essence of poetry. It is the province of the Sahrdya, the connoisseur, who is expert in discerning through the intricate meshes of veiled word and sense into the aesthetic relish of deeper signifi­cance. The aesthetic emotion is trans­ferred only when there is an ideal re­awakening of it in the reader. Anan­davardhana clearly states that appre­ciation of poetry is essentially the same as the creation of it.

Abhinava Gupta in his Lochana says that the more a man is attuned to aesthetic impressions from literature by constant exposure to literary works, the more mirror - like his heart becomes. The constant relishing (char­vana) of poetry refines the sensibility in such a way that cues can trigger the aesthetic experience. Aesthetic con­sciousness has no end outside of itself. Aesthetic experience, characterized by the immersion of the subject in the aesthetic object, is akin to the beati­tude of ecstasy or Brahman or the Self.