257. 286 CHAPTER V

286 CHAPTER V

inferential theory of aesthetics. He holds that the relation between the situation (Vibhava) and the basic mental state (Sthayin) is that of cause and effect. The difference, how- ever, between the cause and the effect at the empirical level and those at the æsthetic level, is that in the former case the cause is real, but in the latter case it is a mere artistic imitation of the real. Accordingly the basic mental state, which is inferred from an imitatively presented cause, is not the real but only a reflection of1 it. For, the inference of the real effect from an unreal cause is illogical. And he points out that it is to emphasise the unreality and imitative nature of the cause and the effect in the context of æsthetics that they are given different names, such as Vibhāva, Anubhāva, Vyabhicāribhāva and Sthāyibhava. Thus, he asserts that there is a succession not only in the experience of the suggested meaning from the conventional, but also in the experience of a Sthayin from a Vibhava; because in both the cases an æsthete infers the one from the other, because of the causal relation between them.

CHARM IN POETIC PRESENTATION.

Following the authority of his predecessors, like Bhatta Nayaka and Ananda Vardhana, he asserts that poetic language is capable of adding a charm to what is directly perceptible or inferable, so that an empirical fact does not give so much delight to an æsthete when it is directly present as it does when it is poetically presented; and further, that a mere descriptive presentation in poetic language also is not so charming to the æsthete as a presen- tation which simply leads to the inference of the central fact of the presentation.

1. V. V. 79.