This inquiry is an undertaking to demonstrate that aesthetic experience in the classical Indian tradition, on its own merit, without being subordinated to rituals and practices commonly held under the rubric of religion, is capable of providing a transcendent experience to a prepared aesthete. Dr. Dehejia examines the dynamics of two aesthetic processes, that stemming from aesthetic emotion or rasa and from aesthetic form or rupa, and cogently underpins them within the advaitic epistemology of Kasmir Saivism. The advaita of art, Dr. Dehejia argues, is a joyous celebration of affirmation and assertion and not negation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Harsha V Dehejia
Harsha V. Dehejia has a double doctorate, one in Medicine and the other in Ancient Indian Culture, both from Mumbai University. He is also a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London and Glasgow and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, all by examination. He is a practising Physician in Ottawa and also Adjunct Professor in the College of Humanities of Carleton University in Ottawa. His special interest is in Indian Aesthetics. His publications include: Advaita of Art, Parvatidarpana, Despair and Modernity, Gods Beyond Temples and Leaves of a Pipal Tree (all by Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi); Parvati: Goddess of Love, The Flute and The Lotus: Romantic Moments in Poetry and Painting and Celebrating Krishna: Sensuous Images, Sacred Words (all by Mapin, Ahmedabad); A Celebration of Love: The Romantic Heroine in the Indian Arts and A Festival of Krishna (both by Roli, Delhi).
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