Abstract
Contemporary democracy has given primacy to thought. Building up institutions on thought and reasoned discourse excludes out human actions derived not from thought that one thinks. Ordinary life is visited by emotion and passion. Such actions of unknown origin are captured best in the drama. Indian theory and practice of drama and the poetics offer communion between the performer and the viewer. Blissful relish of the actions and the dialogues lift up the banal actions from the ordinary to a state beyond simple event. Relishing thus resides in cognition. Drama in theory and in its practice thus offers foundation to institutions that could embrace independent actions as well. In relish there is cognition and reasoning alone cannot lay claim. Folk life and folk actions thus could be emancipatory.
Similar content being viewed by others
Reference
Abhinavagupta A (on Anandavardhana) (1986) Dhvanyaloka O Locana. Translation by Subodhchandra Sengupta, Kalipada Bhattacharya. Mukherjee & Co. Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata
Abhinavagupta (1990) The dhvanyaloka of Anandavardhana with the locana of Abhinavagupta. Translation by Ingalls DHH, Moussaieff J, Patwardhan MV, Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Agamben G (1991) Language and death: the place of negativity. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Benjamin W (1969) Illuminations. Shocken Books, New York
Benjamin W (1997) One-way street. Verso, London
Bhartrhari, Vakyapadiya, vols I & II, Vishnupada Bhattacharya (ed) Paschimbanga Rajya Pustaka Parshat, Kolkata; otherwise use Bhartrhari, Vakyapadiya (1971) English translation by Subramania Iyer KA. Deccan College, Poona
Burke K (1969) A grammar of motives. University of California Press, Berkeley
Cooley M (1987) Architect or bee: the human technology relationship. Chatto& Windus, London
Dasgupta P (1998) The speaker as freedom. (Review of Rajendra Singh, 1995, Linguistic theory and modern Hindustani.) J Pragmatics 29:333–352
De SK (1981) Some problems of Sanskrit poetics. Firma KLM Private Limited, Calcutta
Dryzek JS (2000) Deliberative democracy and beyond: liberals, critics, contestations. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Gnoli R (1967) The aesthetic experience according to Abhinavagupta. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, Varanasi
Gopinatha Kaviraja MM (1990) Mahamahopadhyay Gopinath Kaviraja Rachana Samkalana. Shatavarsiki Samskarana, Varanasi
Grandy RE, Warner R (1986) Philosophical grounds of rationality: intentions, categories, ends. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Grice P (1989) Studies in the way of words. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Hart HLA (1961) The concept of law. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Jacob P (1995) On intentional realism (mimeo). Centre for Research in Application of Epistemology (CREA), Paris
Jain S (1995) Value and rationality (mimeo). Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Kaviraja G (1984) Aspects of Indian thought. University of Burdwan, Burdwan
Lacan J (1988) The seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book I—Freud’s papers on technique 1953–54. In: Miller JA (ed) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Madhusudana Saraswati (1404) In: Bhaktirasayanam BS (ed) and translation by Durgacharan Samkhya-Vedantatirthah. Sanskrita Pustaka Bhandar, Kolkata
Mammata (1967) Kavyaprakasa. Translation by MM. Dr. Sir Ganganatha Jha. Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan, Varanasi
Nandy A (2005) A modest case for learning the language of religion: post-secular reflections on democratic obligations, oration at the IIM, Kolkata on 24 June, 2005. Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
Piatigorsky A (1993) Mythological deliberations: lectures on the phenomenology of myth. Ed. & assisted by A. Cantille. SOAS, University of London, London
Raz J (1975) Practical reason and norms. Hutchinson, London
Rawls J (1993) Political liberalism. Columbia University Press, New York
Rosenbrock H (1990) Machines with a purpose. OUP, Oxford
Shastri SN (1961) The Laws and Practice of Sanskrit Drama, vol 1. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, Varanasi
Shukla Acharya R, Rasamimamsa. Kashi. Nagaripracharini Sabha
Simon HA (1988) The sciences of the artificial. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Singh J (1981) Mahamahopadhyay Gopinath Kaviraj memorial lectures: 1979. University of Calcutta, Calcutta
Tolstoy (1994) Tolstoy’s diaries. In: Christian RF (ed) Flamingo, London
Vishvanatha (1998) Sahityadarpanah. Ed. & translation by Satyanarayana Chakraborti. Sanskrita Pustaka Bhandar, Kolkata
Von Savigny E (1988) The social foundations of meaning. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Williams R (1996) The politics of modernism. Verso, London
Yogendranatha Bagchi MM (1981) Vakyartha Nirupaner Darsanika Paddhati. Sanskrita Pustaka Bhandar, Kolkata
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Banerjee, P. A sketch of blissful actions and democracy based upon rasa. AI & Soc 21, 93–120 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-006-0044-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-006-0044-7