Rudrata's Treatment of Rasa

Summary

Rudraṭa’s Kāvyālaṃkāra, composed around the ninth century CE, is one of the classical treatises on Sanskrit poetics. This article explores Rudraṭa’s treatment of rasa within that work, situating his approach in relation to both earlier ālaṃkāra śāstra and the naṭya tradition. Rudraṭa devotes most of his Kāvyālaṃkāra to cataloguing ornamental figures and prosodic metres, and only a few chapters discuss the experience of rasa. The author begins by reviewing Rudraṭa’s classification of poetic faults and merits and his definition of poetry as well‑constructed words endowed with meaning and embellishment. He then analyzes the passages where Rudraṭa discusses rasa, noting that while Rudraṭa acknowledges Bharata’s theory of eight rasas, he does not expound a separate rasa theory of his own. Instead, Rudraṭa treats rasa as one ornament among many, subordinate to the skillful deployment of alaṃkāras. The article examines Rudraṭa’s examples and commentaries to show how he values clarity, propriety and sweetness of expression over the evocation of an ineffable emotional flavour. The author compares Rudraṭa’s stance with those of Ānandavardhana and Abhinavagupta, who elevated rasa to the defining criterion of poetry, and with later critics who synthesized these views. By highlighting Rudraṭa’s unique emphasis on form and ornamentation, the paper argues that his work represents an important alternative strand in Sanskrit poetics. It concludes that Rudraṭa’s contribution lies not in advancing rasa theory but in providing a comprehensive systematization of poetic devices that shaped the craft of subsequent poets and commentators.