An Indian Analysis of Aesthetics: The Dance, the Dancer and the Spectator

An Indian Analysis of Aesthetics tries to examine the philosophy wherein the fine art over the ages has been propounded to have a ‘metaphysical’ aspect. An examination of various theories is to suggest that the age-old primary aim of the artistic process is not a mere expression of the self, as is popularly asserted by artists today. It is about relating the artistic process to self and striving for the elevation of the self by both the artist and the spectator. Fine art and its aesthetics have ever been intimately connected  with beauty, morals, ethics, spiritual uplift, education, and daily living. It was not seen merely as a skill or a knowledge intensive entertainment tool that happens to portray higher values and morals or merely as a tool of ritual in its religious context; its core purpose was always the discovery of self through the perception of universal truths.

An Indian Analysis of Aesthetics stresses that an aesthetic theory ought not to focus only on the nature of art and its basic and formal principles but should also address the mechanism of the perception of beauty or the attainment of ‘aesthetic relish’ by the spectator. The book also examines the various classical dance forms of India and dwells on the salient elements in their form, technique, and repertoire and also the content that contributes significantly to the important dimension of the experience of ‘the sublime’ through the art form.