LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:5 May 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Grammar, Literature and Poetics –
An Indian Approach

Dr. Vijayalaxmi Koppikar

Abstract

Anandvardhana identified rasa as the goal of poetry, with dhvani as its means. Dhvani means ‘sound’, ‘echo’, ‘reverberation’. Anandavardhana was clearly indebted to earlier grammarians, especially Bhartrhari, who first espoused sphota theory which describes the ’bursting’ of meaning upon the hearing of an utterance. Unlike his predecessors, Anandvardhana was interested only in the aesthetic value of words within the poetic context. Dhvani theory describes the significant range of a word or an utterance, and Anandvardhana understood it as a step beyond both literal and metaphorical meanings. Mary Ann Selby interprets dhvani in the following manner:

Dhvani theory is a system of meaning in which the signifier is fixed, but its corresponding signifieds are theoretically infinite. Included in the resonant potential of an utterance is its lexicality that is full lexical range, and its associative elements, those things that cannot be expressed by mere lexicality. Additionally, these elements encompass the associations a reader may have with an utterance (that sometimes seem to border on synaesthesia), and can even include its opposite meaning.

This paper aims to study how meaning at the level of abidha, lakshana, vyanjana and ultimately rasa is conveyed through language in poetry as viewed by ancients with special emphasis on the dhvani theory propounded by Anandvardhana. Examples are cited from Gathasaptasati (a Prakrit text, and William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and Shakespearean plays. It will lend new and meaningful dimensions and enrich our understanding of Indian culture in particular and of stylistics as a whole.

A Traditional Illustration of Dhvani

The following example from the second-century Prakrit anthology, the Gathasaptasati, may be considered:

Why are you crying
with your head bent down
as the rice fields must turn white?
The hemp field’s like a dancer’s
face daubed with yellow paint

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. Vijayalaxmi Koppikar
Associate Professor
Department of English
Shri M. D. Shah Mahila College
Mumbai – 400064
Maharashtra
India
vijayakoppikar@gmail.com
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