A Preliminary Probe into Some Basic Discourses in Traditional Indian Poetics

　　ABSTRACT: Aesthetic focus upon literature itself, transcendental spirit for the sake of metaphysical pursuit and the consciousness of language as the center were basic features of traditional Indian poetic discourses. While attaching importance to external formal beauty, the aesthetic mind of Indian poetics also explored the internal poetic soul; the transcendental spirit mainly aimed at deliverance and some other aesthetic goals; the consciousness of language as the center was reflected in the development of various alamkāra theories. Although there was inner linkage between aesthetic spirit and aestheticism, transcendental spirit and mysticism, and the consciousness of language as the center and formalism, all these pair notions had no absolute limits.

　　KEY WORDS: Indian poetics; national discourses; aesthetic spirit; transcendental spirit; consciousness of language as the center