68. CHAPTER II. THE SAIVA BASIS OF ABHINAVA'S ÆSTHETICS

CHAPTER II. THE SAIVA BASIS OF ABHINAVA'S ÆSTHETICS

IMPORTANCE OF ABHINAVAGUPTA.

Abhinavagupla is of main importance to us, because our object in the present volume is to present his æsthetics, as we know it from his writings, both in print and in Mss. If we have discussed other theories, that is because they form the necessary background and show the various stages in the evolution of the crowning phases of Indian Æsthetics. He gave the final shape to the philosophy of beauty. And his views are followed by all subsequeat writers on the subject, with the exception of just a few, who attack him on isolated points, such as Mahima Bhatta and Pandit Jagannatha. His theory stands to gain and not to lose in importance, if it be compared with that of any ancient or modern æsthetician in the West. To bring out the full importance of his theory in the light of comparison with those of the Western Æstheticians, we are devoting a separate volume to a presentation of the allied æsthetic currents in the West ; and another to a detailed comparison of the views of Indian and European Æstheticians. He was an encyclopædic thinker. We know of forty- five works from his pen, of which we have given an account in the Second Chapter of our earlier work, entitled "Abhinavagupta". Though mainly a commentator on earlier works, he has shown great originality and founded new schools of Metaphysics and Æsthetics. His Æsthetic theory is based on the Saiva Metaphysics and epistemology. He was not a follower of the Vedanta, as has wrongly been