An Introduction to the Study of Indian Poetics

THIS book, An Introduction to the Study of Indian Poetics by Professor M.S. Kushwaha-ji and Dr Sanjay Kumar Mishra, fills an important gap in the materials available to students of English literature and language who in their undergraduate or postgraduate or research programmes opt for the study of Indian literary theories as part of their syllabuses.

Indian poetics, like most other Indian intellectual textual traditions, had for long been excluded from India's universities and colleges for the erroneous impression to the young Indian students that the West has the monopoly of thought in literary theories and practices. In fact, as the Indian academy had over time entered into a recipient-donor relationship with, principally, the Anglo-American academy - the West became the theory and India the data, and most of the research was simply application of some Western theory or proposal to the Indian literatures. Evidently, this led to a loss of confidence in one's own self and, because of the disjunction with the long continuous cumulative rich native textual traditions, an inability to do creative thinking and contribute anything new to any domain of knowledge. The Indian scholar became a translator and the Indian mind a translated mind.

INDIAN poetics has gained by now a wide recognition among professors of English, and is included in the courses of English literature in several universities. However, many students and even teachers, who have no Sanskrit background, find it a hard nut to crack. Most of the English books on Indian poetics are written by Sanskrit scholars. These works, filled with recondite scholarship, quaint phraseology and awesome details, confuse the beginners rather than enlighten them. There is yet no handy book in English which can introduce the beginners to the essentials of Indian poetics in a reader-friendly manner. The present work is intended to fill in this desideratum. Based on the original sources, it brings out the salient features of all major literary theories and concepts as well as other issues related to Indian poetics. These are presented as precisely and as clearly as possible. Necessary details are given in tables and diagrams instead of being incorporated in the main discourse. Sometimes, the resumé of a difficult subject is presented in the form of a diagram. Thus, every effort is made to facilitate a clear understanding of the subject.