The Concept of the Beautiful in Sanskrit Literature

Sanskrit Text with English Translation 150About the Author Dr. V. Raghavan (1908-79) He joined the Sanskrit Department of the University of Madras in 1935 and since then was engaged on the New Catalogus Catalogurum project; was the professor and Head of the Department during 1955-68 Fellow of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, 1969-70. Received the Kane Gold Medal for Sanskrit and indological research from Asiatic Society, Bombay, 1953. Received the Sahitya Akademi Prize for the best book on Sanskrit Research (Bhoja’s Srngara Prakasa), 1966; Elected Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1964; and of the Sahitya Akademi (posthumously in 1979). Received the Padma Bhushan from the President of India, 1962. Member of the Sanskrit Commission of the Government of India, 1956 and of the Central Sanskrit Board since inception; Honorary Member, Ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient and the Academy of Sciences, Vienna; Awarded Gold Medal and Diploma by the Noble Order of St. Martin, Vienna 1967; Elected President, International Association of Sanskrit Studies, 1973. Foreword It is a pleasure to accede to Dr. S.S. Janaki’s request that I should write a Foreword to the late Prof. V. Raghavan’s lectures on The Concept of the Beautiful in Sanskrit Literature, originally delivered under the Dewan Bahadur Krishnaswami Rao Foundation at the Madras University on 27 and 28 February 1962. While I do not claim any deep knowledge of Sanskrit or of aesthetics, I too have been intrigued and held in fascination by the phen