Across Space and Time: Commonalities in Natyashastra, The Republic, and Poetics


Abstract views: 114 / PDF downloads: 80

Authors

  • Dr. Pooja Agarwal Independent Author and Editor Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, U.P. India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53032/tcl.2019.4.1.20

Keywords:

Comparative Literature, Imitation, Aesthetics, Natyasastra, Reality

Abstract

By the time Chandragupta Maurya established the Mauryan Empire in 322 B.C., Plato, the Greek philosopher had already envisaged an ideal commonwealth and had captured its principles in his The Republic, banishing all poets from his ideal state; and Aristotle, who started off as a student of Plato, had already presented to the world a clear rebuttal to Plato in his treatise, Poetics. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence to support the hypothesis that Bharata’s Natyasastra written sometime between 2nd century B.C. and 2nd century A.D. was influenced by Aristotle’s Poetics, or that, since the date of Natyasastra’s publication is so uncertain, Natyasastra in some way had an influence on Poetics. But this lack of evidence does not undermine the fact that in the Mauryan period (322 B.C. to 185 B.C.), there was an eager influx of Greek diplomats and explorers like Megasthenesin the subcontinent, who were not only political and economic emissaries, but also cultural ambassadors. Neither does this lack of evidence undermine the possibility of an influence, on either side of the theorists. But the case under consideration is not the existence of any physical evidence that could establish a connection, but rather that connection or no connection, Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s Poetics and Bharata’s Natyasastra have a common thread. All the three works are in some way or other an exposition on the imitative art of poetry and drama, and inevitably, each is linked to the other, if in nothing else, then at least in terms of comparative analysis.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Chari, V. K. Sanskrit Criticism. Motilal Banarsidass Publication., 1993.

Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish. The Dance of the Shiva: Essays on Indian Art and Culture. Courier Corporation, 1985.

Daiches, David. “The Platonic Dilemma.” Critical Approaches to Literature. Orient Blackswan, 1984.

Deutsch, ‎Kenneth, and Joe Fornieri. An Invitation to Political Thought. Cengage Learning, 2008.

Devy, G. N. Indian Literary Criticism: Theory and Interpretation. Orient Blackswan, 2002.

Edmundson, Mark. Literature Against Philosophy, Plato to Derrida: A Defence of Poetry. Cambridge University Press, 1995. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511552755

Plato. The Dialogues of Plato. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. Clarendon Press, 1953.

Rath, Arnapurna, Chandrani Chatterjee, SarojaGanapathy. Critical Essays on Literature, Language, and Aesthetics.Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018.

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers. Edited by N. B. Sen. New Book Society of India, 1967.

Downloads

Published

2019-04-30

How to Cite

Dr. Pooja Agarwal. “Across Space and Time: Commonalities in Natyashastra, The Republic, and Poetics”. The Creative Launcher, vol. 4, no. 1, Apr. 2019, pp. 130-5, doi:10.53032/tcl.2019.4.1.20.

Issue

Section

Articles

ARK