Description
Book Synopsis[A] positive contribution to the discourse on aesthetics from a cross-cultural perspective. It should be required reading for any academic who teaches and writes on aesthetics and the philosophy of art . . . There is much to be inspired by, and to learn from.- The Journal of Aesthetics and Art CriticismThe Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art provides an extensive research resource to the burgeoning field of Asian aesthetics. Featuring leading international scholars and teachers whose work defines the field, this unique volume reflects the very best scholarship in creative, analytic, and comparative philosophy. Beginning with a philosophical reconstruction of the classical rasa aesthetics, chapters range from the nature of art-emotions, tones of thinking, and aesthetic education to issues in film-theory and problems of the past versus present. As well as discussing indigenous versus foreign in aesthetic practices, this volume covers North and
Trade ReviewA very good anthology, covering a substantial range of Indian aesthetic concerns. … I recommend it to anyone wanting a sense of the history and present, and of the philosophical richness of Indian aesthetic theory. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
[A] positive contribution to the discourse on aesthetics from a cross-cultural perspective. It should be required reading for any academic who teaches and writes on aesthetics and the philosophy of art. It should also attract any reader interested in seeing how a familiar topic in Western aesthetics—like the possibility and nature of aesthetic experience—is treated in sometimes unfamiliar ways in a cross-cultural context by aestheticians writing about Indian music, theater, dance, painting, and film. There is much to be inspired by, and to learn from, in a careful perusal of this volume. * The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism *
Unlike the many works that take Western viewpoints as their starting point, this collection presents Indian aesthetics from the inside, demonstrating its depth, versatility, and contemporary relevance. It welcomes novices while simultaneously addressing experts, covering traditional issues as well as such intriguing topics as the aesthetic value of the ugly, the aesthetics of festivals, the architectural character of hermits’ huts, and the role of aesthetics in post-colonial politics. This book is essential reading, not only for those specifically concerned with the Indian tradition, but for anyone who is interested in aesthetics and the arts. -- Kathleen Higgins, Professor of Philosophy, The University of Texas at Austin, USA and editor of From Africa to Zen: An Invitation to World Philosophy and The Music Between Us: Is Music a Universal Language?
This volume of essays offers a synthetic and creative approach to the subject of Indian aesthetics and the philosophy of art. The editor has gathered together essays that intersect hosts of themes that are omnipresent in Indian works of literature, music, stage drama, cinema, and the plastic arts alongside theoretical reflections on the cognitive, emotional, cross-cultural, political, and social aspects of the aesthetic in Indian art across time. As such, this collection of essays moves past any attempt at predictable coherence or coverage and ambitiously aims to provoke new thoughts about aesthetics in the South Asian context, a subject so ancient and so vast that no single volume could justifiably introduce its variety. -- Deven M. Patel, Associate Professor of South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors Introduction: Contemporary Indian Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art,
Arindam Chakrabarti (University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA) 1. Two Cultures in Indian Epistemology of Aesthetic Meaning,
Lawrence McCrea (Cornell University, USA) 2. Rasa Aesthetics goes Global: Relevance and Legitimacy,
Priyadarshi Patnaik (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India) 3. Who is afraid of Mimesis? Contesting the Common Sense of Indian Aesthetics through the Theory of ‘Mimesis’ or Anukarana Vâda,
Parul Dave Mukherji (School of Aesthetics and Art History, JNU, New Delhi, India) 4.Thoughts on Svara and Rasa: Music as Thinking/Thinking as Music,
Mukund Lath (Jaipur, India) 5. The Aesthetics of the Resplendent Sapphire: Erotic Devotion in Rupa Gosvamin’s Ujjvalanilamani,
Nrisinha Prasad Bhaduri (Kolkata, India) 6. The Impersonal Subjectivity of Aesthetic Emotion,
Bijoy H Boruah (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India) 7. Refining the Repulsive: Towards an Indian Aesthetics of the Ugly and the Disgusting,
Arindam Chakrabarti (University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA) 8. The Perfume of/from the Past: Modern Reflections on Ancient Art,
Sudipta Kaviraj (Columbia University, USA) 9. Aesthetics of Theft,
Sibaji Bandyopadhyay (Formerly, Professor of Cultural Studies, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India) 10. Approaches to Time in Rajput and Mughal painting,
B.N.Goswamy (Emeritus Professor of Aesthetics and Art-History, Punjab University Chandigarh, India) 11. Deep Seeing: Notes on Kutiyattam,
David Shulman (The Hebrew University, Jerusalem) 12. Realizing the body in movement: Gestures of Freedom in the Dance Aesthetics of Rabindranath Tagore and Kumar Shahani,
Rimli Bhattacharya (University of Delhi, India) 13. The Aesthetical Paradox of the Hermit’s Hut,
Kazi Khaleed Ashraf (University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA) 14. Aesthetics of Touch and Skin: An Essay in Contemporary Indian Political Phenomenology,
Gopal Guru (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) 15. Demands and Dilemmas of Durga Puja ‘Art’: Notes on a Contemporary Festival Aesthetics,
Tapati Guha-Thakurta (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta) 16. The Sky of Cinema,
Moinak Biswas (Jadavpur University, India) 17. Towards a Gandhian Aesthetics: The Poetics of Surrender and the Art of Brahmacharya,
Tridip Suhrud (Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust, India) 18. Aesthetic Judgement of Disgrace,
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Columbia University, USA) Bibliography Index
