Assignment: Dhvani theory

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Dhvani Theory

M.K Bhavnagar University

Department of English

Sem 2

Name – Hema Goswami

Roll no. 12

Enrollment no. 2069108420180020

Paper 7: Literary Theory and Criticism

Topic:  Dhvani Theory

  

Introduction

There cannot be any poetry without words. Indian Poetics evolved out of dramaturgy. The poetry invokes emotional response; and that is followed by the understanding of its emotive language and the appreciation by the reader of the true import of the poet.

The success of a good Kavya involves three aspects:-

ü Pratibha ( the poet’s creative inspiration)

ü Body of the Kavya (its form by way of word and meaning)

ü Rasa (the aesthetic effect)

 Bharat’s  Natyasastra is the earliest known treatise on Poetics and dramaturgy. His Natyasastra mentions four Alamkaras( Poetic figure), ten Gunas (excellences), ten Dosas (defects) and thirty six Laksanas (characteristics) of poetic composition. (Shodhganga)

In Indian poetics, scholars had different viewpoints, so they formed different sampradayas (school of thought). The chief schools are:-

Ø Alamkara (poetic figure)

Ø Rasa (aesthetic pleasure)

Ø Riti (style)

Ø Guna (attribute)

Ø Dhvani (suggestion)

Ø Vakrokti (obliquity)

Ø Aucitya (propriety)

Dhvani School of Poetry

It is regarded as a “meaning school” which gives suggestion. That suggested sense is not apprehended by mere knowledge of grammar and dictionary. It is only apprehended by the knower of the poetic meaning, who knows how to recognize the essence of poetic meaning. (rao)

The suggestive word, the suggested meaning, the power of suggestion; and their mutual relationship are virtually the lifeblood of Indian poetics.

The word dhvani is used for:-

        i.            Conventional symbol- the articulate sound.

      ii.            Conventional meaning

    iii.            The power of word to convey the suggestive meaning

   iv.            The suggestive meaning

     v.            Poetic work containing the suggestive element.

Anandavardhana-“ Dhvanyaloka”

Dhvani school of poetry was formulated by Anandavardhana who wrote “Dhvanyaloka” in the middle of the 9^th century. It brought focus on the potential power of the word in a kavya. Here, the word together with its literal sense forms the body of Kavya.

Anandavardhana  in Dhvanyalokam takes up three main types of implicit sense:-

·        Vastu dhvani

·        Alakaara dhvani

·        Rasa dhvani

In Vastu dhvani some rare fact or idea is implied. In Alankaara dhvani some alankaara or figure of speech is suggested. In Rasa dhvani rasa is evoked. Both Vastu dhvani and Alankaara dhvani can be expressed by direct meaning or vacyaartha, by suggestion or vyangyaartha. But the third variety of implicit sense of rasa dhvani can never be expressed in the direct  meaning of words.

In other words: it is not the direct literal and obvious meaning that is explicit in poetry, but it is the suggested, indirect and emotive meaning that matters. The primary meaning can be understood by all. But the suggested meaning is understood only by those who are gifted with some imagination and a sort of intuition. The mere knowledge of word is not enough to understand and enjoy the poetic import or the essence of the kavya. It needs intuition or Pratibha.

Mammatacharya calls  Pratibha as:-

“nava-navaanvesha-shalini prajna”, Means the ever inventive and resourceful intellect.

Mammata seems to suggest that Anandavardhana graded the entire body of kavya into three classes:-

§  Dhvani kavya- The poetry that suggest as the true kavya, the best (uttam), where dhvani the unspoken suggestive element is dominant

§  Gunibhuta-vamgmaya-kavya- well endowed descriptive poetry, as the middle where dhvani is secondary to Alamkara, and serves as a decoration for the spoken or expressed meaning.

§  Chitrakavya- poetry that structured into various patterns or drawings.

Some dispute Mammata’s statement and point out that Anandavardhana did not say any such things.

The Dhvanyaloka is divided into four chapters called Uddyotas. In the beginning of the first Uddyota Anandavardhana summarizes the purpose of writing his book:

“Kavyastama dhvanir iti budhair yah samamnata- purvah.”

It means the soul of poetry has already been recognized, the theory of dhvani is the essence of poetry. Anandavardhana has borrowed the term “dhvani” from the field of grammar. Anandavardhana discusses all the factors connected to dhvani doctrine such as Alamkara, Guna, Riti, etc. He assignes their true place in relation to rasa and dhvani.

 The technical term Sphota pertaining to dhvani of the grammarians has been employed by the Rhetorecians in a slightly different sense.

The supporters of Dhvani theory maintain that the situation, the context, the speaker, the words and their meanings all conjointly produce the suggestion.

There are three powers of words or three aspects of Dhvani

v Abhidha (denotation)

v Laksana ( implication)

v Vyanjana  ( suggestion)

According to Anandavardhana a word is not only endowed with the two powers of denotation and implication but also that of suggestion.

v Abhidha is basic and other two saktis rest upon it. Abhidha may be defined as that power of words which conveys the conventional meaning or the literal meaning of the expression.

v Laksana is the second power of the word is, it is indication power. It consists in the external characteristics of the expression which are indicative of something deeper.

v Vyanjana is the third power which means what is suggestive.

We arrive at the suggested sense either through ‘Abhidha’ or ‘Laksana’. According to vaiyaakaranaas sphota is vyangya or what is suggested.  In verbal expression ‘abhidha’ and ‘laksana’ form the nature of the condition and ‘Vyanjana’ or ‘dhvani’ is of nature of contents. Abhidha and Laksana are ways and Vyanjana is the end.

The Dhvani theory, in all its minute details has five thousand, three hundred and fifty five subdividions of suggestive poetry. Dhvani is what one overhears in good poetry, the meaning that echo after a statement has been made. It is basically a semantic theory.

Sphota

The basic principle of dhvani is innate in Sphota vada: strictly speaking it is not admissible to take words separately by splitting a sentence. The concept of dhvani was inspired by the ancient doctrine of Sphota, that which flashes or bursts forth the meaning.  The term sphota signifies: bursting; opening; expansion’ disclosure; the eternal and imperceptible element of sound and words.  To those who advocated the divisibility of both pada and vakya, it is the last sentence in a structure that indicates sphota. Sphota is practically manifest from the last sound. It is from the last sound that the cognition of the entire word-structure is derived, together with the impression produced by proceeding sound.

Sphota in this context is “antima buddhi graahya” or what is known by the last word. Sphota is also “antim varna graahya”, or what is known by the last syllable as even the last alphabet.

Indian rhetoricians have made a meticulous study of both the meaning and emotive context of words. Words have at least two meanings, one literal meaning, the other suggested meaning which is described as dhvani or the meaning that echoes.

Sphota is a distinct entity, by itself. It is a gradual process, the mind acquires progressively greater and greater aptitude for receiving further glimpses; with the utterance of the last sound unit the process comes to a close. Dhvani is so termed because it sounds, rings, or reverberates because it is sphota. The idea of one thing indicating something else which it is not is the distinguishing character of dhvani.

Abhinavgupta – “Dhvanyaloka locanam”

Abhinavgupta explains the word ‘dhvani’ in two different way:-

1.     Dhvani iti dhvani

2.     Dhvanyate iti dhvani

The first is ‘dhvani iti dhvani’ , that which sounds or reverberates or implies is dhvani. The second is ‘dhvanyate iti dhvani’ or dhvani is what is sounded or reverberated or implied.

This double derivation explains dhvani as something which is implied and is necessary to keep the two meaning apart to avoid confusion. The one suggests an agent or the power of suggester, the other is what is suggested. All the three types of dhvani , Vastu dhvani, Alankaara dhvani and rasa dhvani come under ‘dhvanyate iti dhvnai’ or that which echoes.

Abhinavagupta accepts the three types of dhvani as given by Anandavardhana. However he adds some other explanation to it. (beehive digital concepts cochin)

Views of other scholars

Many scholars did not entirely agree with Anandavardhana’s exposition of Dhvani. Those who criticized his views include: Bhattanayaka, Kuntaka, Mahimabhatta, Dhananjaya, Bhoja, Rajasekhra, Vishwanatha and few others. They raised questions like:- If Guna and Alamkara are different from Dhvani, how can they be said to produce beauty?

Mammata carried forward the argument that Rasa is the principle substance and the object of poetry. He stated vakyartha rasatmakarth kavyam establishing the correlation between Rasa and poetry; and pushing down the dhvani.

Mahimabhatta included all types of dhvani under the head Anumana, the inference, since Dhvani has no independent or cognizable existence.

Eventually, Anandavardhana, Abhinavgupta, Mammata and other defended the Dhvani and Rasa Dhvani; and successfully deflected most of the criticisms.

Conclusion

Anandavardhana, who was an advocate of rasa, was also the greatest exponent of Dhvani. He concluded that rasa was expressed only through dhvani. His commentator Abhinavagupta lays down that dhvani can be employed in the whole work or in just the meaning or only in a word.

Works Cited

beehive digital concepts cochin. "chapter iii. dhvani and rasa." shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in. <shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/644/8/08_chapter3pdf>.

rao, sreenivasa. "kavya and indian poetics." 24 july 2015. wordpress.com. <http://sreenivasarao.com/tag/classifications-of-dhvani/>.

Shodhganga. "chapter iii indian poetics." n.d.