Abhinavagupta

Years of birth and death unknown. Indian theoretician of literature and art, poet of the late tenth-early 11th centuries. In Abhinavagupta’s most important works, Dhvanyalokalocana (commentary to the treatise of Anandavardhana) and Abhinavabharati (commentary to the Bharatiyanatyasastra), the theory of the dhvani and rasa received their full development and definitive formulation. In his book Abhinavabharati, Abhinavagupta developed these theories in relation to dramatic art, devoting special attention to the nature of aesthetic enjoyment. A high sensitivity and refinement of analysis in the development of the most complicated concepts of aesthetics and a tendency toward religious interpretation of those are characteristic of Abhinavagupta. He is also known as a philosopher of the Vedanta school.