Why does laughter resist the framework of rasa — and what did Abhinavagupta actually do with it? This fourth session with Dr. Sundar dives deep into one of Indian aesthetics’ most elusive questions.The conversation explores why hasya (laughter) was treated differently from other rasas by both Bharata and Abhinavagupta. Dr. Sundar examines whether humour is an emotion, a bodily response, or a philosophical category — and why laughter demands unconscious spontaneity to function at all. The discussion touches on the incongruity theory of humour, the role of the vidushaka in Sanskrit theatre, and how Abhinavagupta’s framework of sadharanīkarana (universalisation) applies differently to comic versus tragic experience.A sophisticated and surprisingly witty exploration for students of Sanskrit poetics, philosophy of mind, and the theory of aesthetic experience (rasa).

About the Speaker:
Sunthar Visuvalingam’s 1984 PhD from BHU on “Abhinavagupta’s Conception of Humor: Its Resonances in Sanskrit Drama, Poetry, Hindu Mythology, and Spiritual Praxis,” was strongly recommended for DLitt. An independent researcher based in Chicago, his subsequent publications are developing its interdisciplinary insights in multiple directions, including comparative religion, aesthetics, and anthropology.

Prachand Praveer has published fifteen books, with notable fiction such as Alpahari Grihtyagi , the non-fiction prose viz. ‘Abhinav Cinema’ and its English translation ‘Cinema Through Rasa’, and an introductory book of Indian Classical phonology ‘Varnochchar Vidhan’.