This paper takes an Indian philosophical approach to explore the play of reality with imagination in the realm of poetic creation. Endowed with the impulse of creation, the poet referred to as ‘ṛṣi’, i.e., the seer, in Sanskrit, seeks to express his vision of the world through his literary creation, the kāvya. ‘Sŗṣṭi’, the Sanskrit word for ‘creation’, signifies three things simultaneously - an activity, a process and the result of them, i.e., the created one. Here, attempt is made to show how i…
Read moreThis paper takes an Indian philosophical approach to explore the play of reality with imagination in the realm of poetic creation. Endowed with the impulse of creation, the poet referred to as ‘ṛṣi’, i.e., the seer, in Sanskrit, seeks to express his vision of the world through his literary creation, the kāvya. ‘Sŗṣṭi’, the Sanskrit word for ‘creation’, signifies three things simultaneously - an activity, a process and the result of them, i.e., the created one. Here, attempt is made to show how in poetry all these co-mingle, and the known world is created anew by the poetic genius. It is then akin to experiencing the Supreme Bliss. Further, it shows how aesthetic imagination creates poetry with the coagulation of bhāva and rasa which are the heart and soul of poetry. It is believed that if a poetic creation is to reach out to another soul, a poet, in the true sense of the term, has to be an ardent worshipper of ‘speech’, referred to as ‘Vāk’ in Indian Philosophy. This paper tries to reflect the journey of speech towards its divine elevation - through the stages of vaikharī, madhyamā, pasyanti to the ultimate, parā.