Art Experience

For decades, Prof. Hiriyanna’s Art experience has been a lamp which has provided illumination to many a serious student of Indian aesthetics. A contemporary of the late Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, he was steeped in Indian philosophy and his writing was characterised by a careful economy of phrase–a model of precision and lucidity. He was the first among the pioneers to establish meaningfully the relationship of philosophy, aesthetics and life. Prof. Hiriyanna pointed at the core concept of the Upanisadic view which was as relevant to philosophy as to art. He turned the course of the discussion on Indian art and aesthetics from history to its fundamentals of a world view, and the diverse paths of the quest for truth, viz., through speculative thought or alternately, refinement of senses and sense perceptions. He highlighted the Indian view that achievement of a life of harmony was not through extinguishment of interests, but by an expansion of them through training and refinement of feeling and the cultivation of emotion. The present volume carries 15 contributions on topics of Indian aesthetics. After a penetrating analysis of the fundamental concepts envisaged from a traditional point of view, Prof. Hiriyanna interprets them succinctly. He elucidates the theory of Rasa from the point of Sankhya in a masterly fashion; equally illuminating are the other essays on Rasa and Dhvani, and Sanskrit poetics and forewords contributed by him. Each essay iluminates a facet of Indian aesthetics or an aspect of poetics.