1. «OCHO ESTROFAS SOBRE ANUTTARA» (ANUTTARÁSTIKÁ) PLEGARIA ATRIBUIDA A ABHINAVAGUPTA.
- Author
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Castro, Oscar Figueroa
- Abstract
Abhinavagupta lived between the ninth and tenth centuries. Though mainly known as the leading thinker of the non dualistic branch of Kashmir Shaivism, his contribution to Sanskrit culture encompasses a variety of fields like dramaturgy, aesthetics, and ritual theory. Such a prolific figure is thought to have composed the prayer (stotra) in eight stanzas (astiká) here translated for the first time into Spanish. The topic of this brief panegyric is anuttara. Grammatically an exocentric compound (bahuvñhi) literally meaning «having no superior», anuttara designates the absolute, non-dual nature of the deity. To an important extent, the prayer's relevance rests on the word's rarity within Sanskrit literature. In this regard, the paper offers a brief genealogical survey about the word, defending the thesis that Abhinavagupta's appropriation represents a dramatic innovation: from now onwards the object qualified as anuttara is as important as the very fact of being qualified by such word. As the prayer shows, this centrality has to do with the word's polysemy, in particular with the fact that its equivocal construction points simultaneously to the highest as well as to the lowest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013