What Kind of Experience does Narrative Literature Produce?

Andrew Ollett g Vancouver, October 18, 2017

licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

image source

Outline

1. Stories on the Margins: Rasa as a “governing concept” of literature, and the genres it doesn’t govern.
2. Stories in the Center: Rasa in Jain reflections on narrative literature.

Story Literature (kathā)

Especially in Prakrit:

• Taraṅgavatī (verse, kind of lost)
• Malayavatī (unknown, lost)
• Samarādityakathā (prose)
• Kuvalayamālā (mixed prose and verse)
• Līlāvatī (verse)

Most of these works are by Jain authors, and specifically by Jain monks.

Ānandavardhana’s two principles

for finding an appropriate “fit” (saṁghaṭanā) between form and content

Principle 1: “Rasa über alles”

If it is rasa in the first place that you want to produce, then you have to avoid at all costs anything that might block or hamper its apprehension.

rasō yadā prādhānyēna pratipādyas tadā tatpratītau vyavadhāyakā virōdhinaś ca sarvātmanaiva parihāryāḥ

(Kāśī Sanskrit Series ed. p. 320)

Principle 2: “Adapt to the genre”

The fit (saṁghaṭanā) has different varieties depending on which genre of literature one is writing in.

kāvyaprabhēdāśrayataḥ sthitā bhēdavatī hi sā

(Kāśī Sanskrit Series ed. p. 323, kārikā 3.7)

Ānandavardhana’s “two roads”

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Rasa in the Story Cycle

In the story cycle, one may do as one wishes: since one is simply relating a series of events, the formation of rasa is not particularly crucial.

parikathāyāṁ kāmacāraḥ, tatrētivr̥ttamātrōpanyāsēna nātyantaṁ rasabandhābhinivēśāt.

Rasa among the Jains

Anuyōgadvārasūtram 262 (5th c. CE):

navanāmē ṇava kavvarasā paṇṇattā. taṁ jahā—
siṁgārō abbhuō ya roddō ya hōi bōdhavvō
vēlaṇaō bībhaccō hāsō kaluṇō pasaṁtō ya

Narrative among the Jains

• Rasa doesn’t organize the discussion of narrative literature in the Daśavaikālikasūtram.
  • or in literature that stands in that tradition (e.g., Samarādityakathā).
• What does?

“Stories” (kathā) vs. “Yarns” (vikathā) and “Unstories” (akathā)

When people who are concerned with conduct, who practice austerities, restraints, and virtues, tell the truth, which is beneficial for all souls in the world, that is designated as a story in our tradition.

tavasaṁjamaguṇadhārī jaṁ caraṇatthā kaheṁti sabbhāvaṁ
savvajagajjīvahiyaṁ sā u kahā dēsiyā samaē

“Stories” (kathā) vs. “Yarns” (vikathā) and “Unstories” (akathā)

When a person without knowledge tells a story and communicates falsity, whether he is a student or a householder, that is designated as not a story at all (akathā-) in our tradition.

micchattaṁ vēyantō jaṁ annāṇī kahaṁ parikahēi
liṁgatthō va gihī vā sā akahā dēsiyā samaē

The four types of story (kathā)

1. Dharmakathā
2. Arthakathā
3. Kāmakathā
4. Miśrakathā

The four goals of a religious story (dharmakathā)

1. Ākṣēpaḥ — Interest in the Jain teachings.
2. Vikṣēpaḥ — Confutation of non-Jain teachings.
3. Saṁvēgaḥ — Excitement for the results of Jain religious practice.
4. Nirvēdaḥ — Fear and aversion from the effects of sin.

Jain Narratives, Rasa, and Propriety

An anti-rasa orientation?

The story told to a listener by those who are inflamed by the erotic rasa, in whom the conflagration of delusion rages, should not be told by a monk.

siṁgārarasutteïyā mōhakuviyaphuṁphugā sahāseṁti
jaṁ suṇamāṇassa kahaṁ samaṇēṇa na sā kahēyavvā

N.B. this is a conception of rasa far from Bhaṭṭa Nāyaka’s “aesthetic differentiation.”

Propriety: “Don’t go overboard”

A story should be told without a lot of trouble, even if is great in terms of its meaning. Watch out that the story doesn’t kill its meaning with all of its bombast.

atthamahaṁtī vi kahā aparikilēsabahulā kahēyavvā
haṁdi māhayā caḍagarattaṇēṇa atthaṁ kahā haṇaï

Taraṅgavatī

Three Concluding Questions