Anandavardhana

Anandavardhana 

Indian theoretician of literature, of approximately the ninth century. Author of Dhvanyaloka, a treatise on the nature of aesthetic enjoyment in literature, Anandavardhana wrote in Sanskrit. He gave the most complete formulation of the theory of dhvani, which affirmed that the aesthetic essence of poetry consists not in the images themselves but in the associations and concepts they evoke. Anandavardhana’s concept played an important role in later Sanskrit poetry.

WORKS

The Dhvanyaloka of Anandavardhana, vols. 1–2. Edited by B. Bhattacharya. Calcutta, 1956–57.

REFERENCE

De, S. K. History of Sanskrit Poetics. Calcutta, 1960.