A Rasa-Dhvani Reading of Kabir's Select Verses in Translation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70680/sanskriti.v3i1.73Abstract
This paper attempts to read the select verses from Kabir’s nirguna poetry in light of the rasa-dhvani school of Indian aesthetics and philosophy. In an attempt to critically interpret Kabir’s work within the context of contemporary literary scholarship, the researcher has chosen Vinay Dharwadkar’s English translation from his work titled Kabir: The Weaver’s Songs (2003). Rather than framing Kabir’s nirguna bhakti as a contest of spiritual supremacy, this study emphasizes its inward, participatory nature - an invitation to self-reflection and experiential engagement with the self as approved by Anandvardhana’s conception of Sahrdaya. The paper, therefore, attempts to explore Kabir both as a poet and as a philosopher, within the larger ambit of the evocation of rasas in his select compositions. Drawing on Anandavardhana’s Dhvani theory, the researcher analyzes how aesthetic suggestion operates in Kabir’s verses to articulate the egalitarian ethos. Select extracts by Dharwadkar serve as the textual basis for this inquiry, thereby facilitating a detailed assessment of Kabir’s philosophical poetics within the framework of rasa-dhvani aesthetics.
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