Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T09:45:41.229Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why Sārus Cranes epitomize Karuṇarasa in the Rāmāyaṇa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

NIELS HAMMER
NIELS HAMMER*
Affiliation:
Affiliated to the University of Lund
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

By correlating literary evidence, avian ethology and neurophysiology I will try to demonstrate why Vālmīki chose a pair of Sārus Cranes, and not any other avian species, to epitomise grief and sorrow in the Rāmāyaṇa. This choice illustrates the importance of personal experience of the living reality (behaviour of Sārus Cranes); but the grief, śoka, as experienced by Vālmīki, became in later critical literature, the rasa of karuṇa, the aesthetic appreciation of grief, as suggested by Ānandavardhana and explained by Abhinavagupta. By emphasising the central importance of affective states (sthāyibhāvas) in life as well as in the arts (rasas) Vālmīki, Abhinavagupta and Ānandavardhana appear to have had a perception of the human condition that is consistent with recent developments in affective neuroscience; and thus it is the pitch and the tonal quality of the cries of grief that convey the depth and universality (sādhāraṇatva) of the emotion.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 187 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Niels Hammer, Forhåbningholms Allé 47 A, 1904 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: <[email protected]>

2

I would like to thank Dr Yvonne Hammer and Professor Olle Qvarnström for helpful comments and suggestions.

References

Abhinavabhāratī (1988). See Nāṭyaśāstra.Google Scholar
Abhinavagupta (1940). See Ānandavardhana.Google Scholar
Ali, Sálim and Ripley, S. Dillon (1983). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Compact Edition. Delhi. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ānandavardhana (1940). Dhvanyāloka, with the Locana and Bālapriyā Commentaries of Abhinavagupta and Rāmaśāraka. With the Divyāñjana Notes by Mahādeva Śāstri. Edited by Paṭṭābhirāma Śāstri. The Kashi Sanskrit Series 135. Alaṅkāra Section No. 5. Benares City. Chowkhambā Sanskrit Series Office.Google Scholar
Ānandavardhana and Abhinavagupta (1990). The Dhvanyāloka of Ānandavardhana with the Locana of Abhinavagupta. Translated by Ingalls, Daniel H. H., Masson, Jeffrey Moussaieff and Patwardhan, M. V.. Harvard Oriental Series. Vol. 49. Cambridge. Massachusetts. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle (1982). The Poetics. Longinus On the Sublime. With an English Translation by W. Hamilton Fyfe. Demetrius On Style. With an English Translation by W. Rhys Roberts. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge. Massachusetts. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Austin, James H. (1998). Zen and the Brain. Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness. Cambridge. Massachusetts. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Bhāsa (1996). Pratimā Abhiṣeka. Complete Plays of Bhāsa. Vol. II. Text with English Translation and Notes by K.P.A. Menon. Delhi Nag Publishers.Google Scholar
Bhavabhūti (1928/1983). Mālatīmādhava. With the Commentary of Jagaddhara. Edited with an English Translation, Notes and Introduction by M.R. Kāle. Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Bhavabhūti (1934/1982) (Fourth edition). Uttararāmacharita. With the Commentary of Vīrarāghava, Introduction, English Translation and Notes by M.R. Kale. Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Borad, C. K., Mukherjee, Aeshita, Patel, S. B. and Parasharya, B. M. (2002). Breeding performance of Indian Sarus Crane Grus antigone antigone in the paddy crop agroecosystem. Biodiversity and Conservation. 11, pp. 795–805.Google Scholar
Brockington, John (1998). The Sanskrit Epics. Handbuch der Orientalistik. Indien. Zwölfter Band. Leiden. Brill.Google Scholar
Bryson, Reid A., and Swain, A. M. (1981). Holocene Variations of Monsoon Rainfall in Rajasthan. Quaternary Research. 16, pp. 135–145.Google Scholar
Cabanac, M. (1999). Emotion and Phylogeny. Journal of Consciousness Studies 6 (June/july) pp. 176–190.Google Scholar
Catchpole, C. K. (1994). Bird Song. In The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. R. E. Asher (Editor-in-Chief). Vol. 1, pp. 360–366. Oxford. Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Cramp, Stanley (Chief Editor), Simmons, K. E. L., Ferguson-Lees, I. J., Gillmor, Robert, Hollom, P. A. D., Hudson, Robert, Nicholson, E. M., Ogilvie, M. A., Olney, P. J. S., Voous, K. H., Wattel, Jan (1977). Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic. I. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Darwin, Charles (1998). The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. With an Introduction, Afterword and Com-mentaries by Paul Ekman. London. HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Diderot, Denis (1987). Le Rêve de d'Alembert. Idées IV. Édition critique et annotée présentée par Jean Varloot, Michel Delon, Georges Dulac, Jean Mayer. œuvres complètes. Tome XVII. Paris. Hermann.Google Scholar
Ekman, P. (1992). An Argument for Basic Emotions. Cognition and Emotion 6 (3/4), pp. 169–200.Google Scholar
Eliot, T. S. (1951). Tradition and the Individual Talent. Selected Essays pp. 13–22. Third Edition. London. Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
Ellis, David H., Swengel, Scott R., Archibald, George W. and Kepler, Cameron B. (1998). A sociogram for the cranes of the world. Behavioural Processes. 43, pp. 125–151.Google Scholar
Finnis, John and Martin, Patrick (2003). Another turn for the Turtle. The Times Literary Supplement. April 18, pp. 12–14.Google Scholar
Gāhākosa of Hāla (Sātavāhana) (1980/1988). Edited and translated with Glossary and Notes by M.V. Patwardhan. Part I with Bhuvanapāla's Commentary. Prakrit Text Series 21. Prakrit Text Society. Ahmedabad. Part II. B. L. Series No. 5. Delhi. Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology.Google Scholar
Gallese, Vittorio (1999). From Grasping to Language: Mirror Neurons and the Origin of Social Communication. In Toward a Science of Consciousness III. Edited by Hameroff, Stuart R., Kaszniak, Alfred W. and Chalmers, David J.. pp. 165–178. Cambridge. Massachusetts. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Gamkrelidze, Thomas V. and Ivanov, Vjačeslav V. (1995). Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans. A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture. Preface by Roman Jakobson. English version by Johanna Nichols. Berlin. Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Gee, George F. and Russman, Shirley E. (1996). Reproductive Physiology. In Cranes: their biology, husbandry and conservation. Edited by Ellis, David H., Gee, George F. and Mirande, Claire M.. pp. 123–136. Washington, DC. U.S. Department of the Interior. National Biological Service. Baraboo. Wisconsin. International Crane Foundation.Google Scholar
Habib, Irfan (1982). In Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib (Editors). The Cambridge Economic History of India. Vol. I: c. 1200–1750. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hailman, Jack P. (1977). Optical Signals: Animal Communication and Light. Bloomington. Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Hammer, Niels (2003). The Art of Sanskrit Poetry. An Introduction to Language and Poetics Illustrated by Rasaḥ, Dhvaniḥ and Alaṅkāraḥ Analyses. Delhi. Munshiram Manoharlal.Google Scholar
Hemacandra (1972). Abhidhānacintāmaṇi. Herausgegeben, übersetzt und mit Anmerkungen begleitet von Otto Boehtlingk und Charles Rieu. Neudruck der Ausgabe 1847. Osnabrück. Biblio Verlag.Google Scholar
Hodgson, David (2002). Quantum Physics, Consciousness and Free Will. Chapter 4 in The Oxford Handbook of Free Will. Edited by Robert Kane. pp. 85–110. Oxford. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hume, David (1739/1896). A Treatise of Human Nature. Volume II. Reprinted from the Original. Edited by L. Selby-Bigge. Oxford. At the Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Kālidāsa (1969). (10th edition). Abhijñānaśākuntalam. With Commentary of Rāghavabhaṭṭa, Various Readings, Translation and Notes. Edited by M. R. Kale. Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Kālidāsa (1969) (7th edition). Meghadūta. Text with Sanskrit Commentary of Mallinātha, English Translation, Notes and Appendices by M.R. Kale. Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Kālidāsa (1972). (Reprint). Raghuvaṃśa. I-V. With the Commentary Sañjivanī of Mallinātha. Edited with English Translation and Notes by M.R. Kale. Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Kālidāsa (1967). (2nd edition). Ṛtusaṃhāra. With Commentary by S. V. Upadhye. Introduction, Notes and Translation by M. R. Kale. Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Kane, P. V. (1971). History of Sanskrit Poetics. Fourth Edition. Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Kohler, Evelyne, Keysers, Christian, Umiltà, M. Alessandra, Fogassi, Leonardo, Gallese, Vittorio, Rizzolatti, Giacomo. 2002. Hearing Sounds, Understanding Actions: Action Representation in Mirror Neurons. Science. 297. No. 2, pp. 846–848.Google Scholar
Leslie, Julia (1998). A Bird Bereaved: The Identity and Significance of Vālmīki's Krauñca. Journal of Indian Philosophy. 26, pp. 455–487.Google Scholar
Libet, Benjamin, Freeman, Anthony and Sutherland, Keith (Editors). (1999). The Volitional Brain, Towards a Neuroscience of Free Will. Journal of Cosciousness Studies. 6. August-September.Google Scholar
Mahābhārata. Ādiparvan (1933). Vol. I. Critical Edition. Edited by Sukthankar, Vishnu S.. Poona. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.Google Scholar
Mahābhārata. Āraṇyaparvan (1942). Vol. 3. Part 1. Critical Edition. Edited by Sukthankar, Vishnu S.. Poona. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.Google Scholar
Masica, Colin P. (1979). Aryan and non-Aryan elements in North Indian agriculture. In Aryan and Non-Aryan in India. Edited by Deshpande, Madhav M. and Hook, Peter Edwin. pp. 55–151. Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Masson, J. (1969). Who Killed Cock Krauñca? Abhinavagupta's reflections on the origin of aesthetic experience. Journal of the Oriental Institute. Baroda. XVIII No. 3, pp. 207–224.Google Scholar
Mayrhofer, Manfred (2001). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen. Band 3. Heidelberg. Carl Winter.Google Scholar
McAlpin, David W. (1979). Linguistic prehistory: The Dravidian Sitiuation. In Aryan and Non-Aryan in India. Edited by Deshpande, Madhav M. and Hook, Peter Edwin. pp. 175–188. Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan.Google Scholar
McEvedy, Colin, and Jones, Richard (1978). Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Reference Books.Google Scholar
Meine, Curt D. and Archibald, George W. (Editors) (1996). The cranes: Status survey and conservation action plan. The Sarus crane. IUCN. Gland and Cambridge. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center.Google Scholar
Mukherjee, Aeshita (2002a). Observations of the mating behaviour of the Indian Sarus crane Grus antigone antigone in the wild. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 99. No 1, pp. 108–113.Google Scholar
Mukherjee, C. K. Borad and Parasharya, B. M. (2002b). Breeding performance of the Indian sarus crane in the agricultural landscape of western India. Biological Conservation. 105, pp. 263–269.Google Scholar
Mukherjee, C. K. Borad, Parasharya, B. M. and Soni, V. C. (2001). Factors affecting distribution of the Sarus crane Grus antigone antigone (Linn) in Kheda District, Gujarat. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 98. No 3, pp. 379–384.Google Scholar
Nagel, Thomas (1974). What is it like to be a bat? The Philosophical Review. 83, pp. 435–450.Google Scholar
Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharatamuni with the Abhinavabhāratī (1988). Commentary by Abhinavagupta. Vol. I. Chapters 1–7. Edited with introduction by R. S. Nagar. Parimal Sanskrit Series No 4. Delhi. Parimal Publications.Google Scholar
Panksepp, Jaak (1998a). Affective Neuroscience. The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions. New York. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Panksepp, Jaak (1998b). The Periconscious Substrates of Consciousness: Affective States and the Evolutionary Origins of the Self. Journal of Consciousness Studies. 5. No 5/6, pp. 566–582.Google Scholar
Panksepp, Jaak. (2003). At the interface of the affective, behavioral and cognitive neurosciences: Decoding the emotional feelings of the brain. Brain and Cognition 52, pp. 4–14.Google Scholar
Panksepp, Jaak, Nelson, Eric, and Bekkedal, Marni (1997). Brain Systems for the Mediation of Social Separation-Distress and Social-Reward. Evolutionary Antecedents and Neuropeptide Intermediaries. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 807, pp. 78–100.Google Scholar
Patañjali (1961). The Science of Yoga. The Yogasūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation and Commentary in English. I.K. Taimni. Adyar. The Theosophical Publishing House.Google Scholar
Raghavan, V. (1963). Bhoja's Śṛṇgāra Prakāśa. Madras. Punarvasu.Google Scholar
Raghavan, V. (1975) (Third revised edition). The Number of Rasas. The Adyar Library Series. Volume 23. Madras. The Adyar Library and Research Centre.Google Scholar
Rudraṭa (1886). Kāvyālaṅkāra. With the Commentary of Namisādhu. Edited by Durgāprasāda and Wasudev Laxmaṇ Śāstrī Paṇśikar. Kāvyamāla 2. Bombay. The Nirṇaya Sāgara Press. (Reprint: Motilal Banarsidass).Google Scholar
Shanon, Benny (2002). The Antipodes of the Mind. Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience. Oxford. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sheets-Johnstone, Maxine (1998). Consciousness: A Natural History. Journal of Consciousness Studies. 5. No 3, pp. 260–294.Google Scholar
Sheets-Johnstone, Maxine (1999). Emotion and Movement. Journal of Consciousness Studies. 6. November/December, pp. 259–277.Google Scholar
Singh, G., Joshi, R. D., Chopra, S. K. and Singh, A. B. (1974). Late Quaternary History of Vegetation and Climate of the Rajasthan Desert, India. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Ser. B. 267, pp. 467–501.Google Scholar
Staal, Frits (1985). Mantras and Bird Songs. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 105. No 30, pp. 549–558.Google Scholar
Tranströmer, Tomas (2002). Samlade dikter 1954–1996. Viborg. Albert Bonniers Förlag.Google Scholar
Tyack, Peter L. (2000). Functional Aspects of Cetacean Communication. In Cetacean Societies, Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales. Edited by Mann, Janet, Connor, Richard C., Tyack, Peter L. and Whitehead, Hal. pp. 270–307. Chicago. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Vālmīki (1982) (1958 1st edition). The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa. Vol. I. The Bālakāṇḍa. Critical Edition. Edited by Bhatt, G. H.. Baroda. Oriental Institute.Google Scholar
Vālmīki (1963). The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa. Vol. III. The Araṇyakāṇḍa. Critical Edition. Edited by Divanji, P. C.. Baroda. Oriental Institute.Google Scholar
Vālmīki (1888). The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki. With the Commentary (Tilaka) of Rāma. Part I. 1. The Bālakāṇḍa. 2. The Ayodhyākāṇḍa. 3. The Araṇyakāṇḍa. 4. The Kishkindhākāṇḍa. Edited by Kāśīnāth Pāṇdurang Parab. Bombay. Nirṇaya-Sāgara Press.Google Scholar
Vidyādhara (1903). The Ekāvalī. With the Commentary, Tarala, of Mallinātha and with a critical Notice of Manuscripts, Introduction and Critical and Explanatory Notes by Kamalāśaṇkara Prāṇaśaṅkara Trivedī. Bombay Sanskrit Series No. 63. Bombay. Government Central Book Depot.Google Scholar
Walkinshaw, Lawrence (1973). Cranes of the World. New York. Winchester Press.Google Scholar
Watt, Douglas F. (1999). At the Intersection of Emotion and Consciousness: Affective Neuroscience and Extended Reticular Thalamic Activating System (ERTAS) Theories of Consciousness. In Toward a Science of Consciousness III. The Third Tuscon Discussions and Debates. Edited by Hameroff, Stuart R., Kaszniak, Alfred W. and Chalmers, David J.. pp. 215–229. Cambridge. Massachusetts. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Watt, D. F. (1998). Emotion and Consciousness: Implications of Affective Neuroscience for Extended Reticular Thalamic Activating System Theories of Consciousness. http://www.phil.vt.edu/ASSC/watt/default.htmlGoogle Scholar