Abhinavagupta corner

Kashmir has been the melting pot of various schools of knowledge where philosophy, grammar, literature, dance, drama and other aesthetic pursuits emerged leaving an everlasting influence in the Indian subcontinent. The knowledgebased society of Kashmir, with its presiding diety Sharda, the Goddess of knowledge, made it a crucible for learning and education. It was here that great scholars like Udbhatt, Vaman, Rudratt, Bhatta Lollat, Bhatta Shankuk, Anandvardhan, Vasugupta, Somanand, Utpaldev, Bhatta Narayan, Bhatta Totuk, Bhatenduraj, Mammat, Kshemendra, Jayratha, Kshemraja, Sharnagdev and many others evolved as great thinkers. Abhinavagupta continued with intellectual tradition of thinkers of Kashmir and touched all spheres of life which includes aesthetic experience, tantric praxis and universal consciousness. It was the encyclopaedic genius of Abhinavagupta which endeared him to people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. He was an exponent of Trika philosophy, theory of art & literature, poetics, nature of sound, etc. He was the greatest jewel of ancient India, who It was they who delved deep to unravel the nature of existence and evolution. In this lineage around 11th CE, a great polymath, Abhinavagupta, came on the scene. With his sharp intellect and inquisitive mind, he distilled the philosophy, polished the concept of Rasas and synthesized the philosophical streams in such a manner that it connected all this phenomenal existence to Supreme Shiva, the one on which the universal existence hinges upon.