Metaphor, rasa, and dhvani: Suggested meaning in Tantric esotericism

Indian aesthetics provides a framework for reading Tantric traditions. Tantras describe the public and private domains of ritual in language that grounds esoteric experience while referring to commonsense entities. Their language is highly metaphoric, and uses conceptual blend, indication, and indirect suggestion. The experience transformed through meditation and ritual practice in this depiction parallels aesthetic bliss, and the theme of this description is the recognition of the true nature of the self, considered as concealed in mundane experience. The central argument of this paper is that the application of the aesthetic theories of rasa and dhvani to a reading of Tantra allows a deeper insight into Tantric rituals, their mystical writings, and esoteric practices. By studying two select cases of the description of esoteric bliss and consciousness, this essay contextualizes two aspects of aesthetics, rasa and dhvani, as tools for deciphering esoteric Tantric literature.