Problem emocji w piśmiennictwie sanskryckim
The problem of emotions in Sanskrit literature

Author(s): Dagmara Wasilewska
Subject(s): Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Sanskrit; Sanskrit literature; Indian poetics; emotions;
Summary/Abstract: The subject of the article is emotionality in the literature of ancient India, including the status of emotions and their cultural conditions, and ways of expressing emotions in the most important Indian literary language – Sanskrit – in relation to its specificity. Terms referring to emotional states are unique for a given culture, because culture shapes the evaluation of emotions, which in turn affects the image of emotionality present in the language. When studying the issue of expressing feelings in Sanskrit, we examine written texts – old, strongly canonized and stylized, rich in symbolic content and references to mythology. Sanskrit literature is therefore characterised by a certain stiffness in terms of emotionality – emotions are more often described than expressed. Philosophical-religious literature usually completely refrains from the subject of feelings, while classical poetry is dominated by fiction of a very artistic form, in which formal stylistic devices are the most important. On the other hand, the lexis describing feelings is highly developed and it astonishes with its abundance and richness of descriptions as well as long, elaborate compositions. In the article I attempt to sketch a picture of emotions in Sanskrit literature and identify the elements that condition it.

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