The Comic Element In Sanskrit Literature

• Emotions play a significant role in making human life colourful and interesting. In fact, emotion distinguishes man from other animals due to its softness.
• Sanskrit literature, which is a golden treasure of our ancient wisdom and hoary tradition, has in abundance a fine fabrication of fabulous emotional depictions, covering a fantastic range and variety.
• Dr. Raghavan has taken a single element of emotion—comic—and made an in-depth analysis, citing copious illustrations from almost all related Sanskrit literature, evidencing his width and depth of knowledge in Sanskrit. His approach is logical and scientific.
• He also compares his theoretical background with that of Western experts and psychologists like S. Freud and others.
• Starting from Bharata's Natyasatra, which is the earliest treatise on drama, the author has brought forth the comic elements in Vithyangas, Nataka, Prakarana, Vedic literature, the epic Ramayana, Advaitic dialectics, Nyayas, Naisadha Kavya, Catus, Kalidasa's characterization of Vidusakas, Mrcchakatika, and many other literatures.
• The author takes us to a new world of comics with exquisite exposition of the events of comics.
• Bharata's classification of laughter into six kinds and analysis of the causes of laughter are superb. Satire, irony, sarcasm, punning, and their associations with wit and humour are vividly described.
• He makes an elaborate analysis of satire, and we are surprised to read that even our deities like Siva, Visnu, and Brahma are also subjected to healthy satire.
• So also, the systems of Indian philosophy, including Vedanta, Nyaya, Buddhism, and Jainism, are not spared.
• In short, the book is a succinct epitome on the emotion of comic element in Sanskrit literature and takes us to the heights of peeling laughter and fun.