The Hindu Model Of Communication
by: Laxman Datt Pant
(Originally published in The Rising Nepal. Nov. 24, 2009. p. 4)
(Also available at: http://gorkhapatra.org.np/rising.detail.php?article_id=27164&cat_id=7)
Indebted to Natyashastra and Vakyapadiya, and acknowledging their relevance to the modern discipline of communication, Nirmala Mani Adhikary, a promising communications scholar from the east has proposed the ‘Sadharanikaran Model of Communication (SMC)’. For a completely open discussion, this columnist has attempted to analyse the core arguments by the researcher and seeks scholarly feedback from media academics and professionals in the field. Adhikary, who is currently an assistant professor in media studies at Kathmandu University, has attempted to understand communication particularly from the Hindu perspective.
Hindu perspective
Adhikary sees ‘sadharanikaran’ as the attainment of sahridayata, or commonness or oneness, between the communicating parties. According to this model, when both senders and receivers accomplish the process of sadharanikaran, they attain saharidayata and become sahridayas. In other words, the communicating parties, namely the actor and audience, become sahridayas, leading to the attainment of saharidayata.
In this light, the Latin word ‘communis’ and its modern English version ‘communication’ come close to sadharanikaran, and, therefore, sadharanikaran as a theory of communication is apparent. However, the philosophy behind sadharanikaran is somewhat different from the communication concept developed in the Western societies. The sadharanikaran model "offers an explanation as to how successful communication is possible in Hindu society where complex hierarchies of castes, languages, cultures and religious practices are prevalent."
The elements of communication in the SMC are the sahridayas (sender and receiver), bhava (moods or emotions), abhivyanjana (expression or encoding), sandesha (message or information), sarani (channel), rasaswadana (firstly receiving, decoding and interpreting the message and finally achieving the rasa), doshas (noises), sandarbha (context) and pratikriya (process of feedback).
Sadharanikaran, as a communication process, consists of sahridayas as the communicating parties. As a technical term, the word refers to people with a capacity to send and receive messages. They are the parties engaged in communication, and capable of identifying each other as the sender and receiver in the process. A sahridaya is a person in such a state of emotional intensity which is coequal or parallel to that of other(s) engaged in communication. Ideally, the term refers to such persons who are not only engaged in communication but have also attained a special state: sahridayata.
The sahridaya-sender, or simply the sender, who has bhavas (moods or emotions or thoughts or ideas) in the mind, is the initiator of the process. The sahridaya-sender has to pass the process of abhivyanjana for expressing those bhavas in perceivable form. It is the sahridaya-receiver (or simply the receiver) with whom the bhavas are to be shared. He or she has to pass the process of rasaswadana.
The position of the sahridaya-sender and the sahridaya-receiver is not static. Both parties are engaged in the processes of abhivyanjana and rasaswadana. When sadharanikaran is successful, universalisation or commonness of experience takes place.
In SMC, the sender inherits the bhava. A human being in his/her essential characteristics is a bundle of bhavas that constitutes his/her being and form part of his/her total consciousness. It is due to the bhavas that a human being aims at engaging in communication or the sadharanikaran process. If there was to be no bhava and the human being had no desire to share his/her bhavas with others, there would have been no need of communication.
Abhivyanjana refers to the activities that a source goes to translate the bhavas into a form that may be perceived by the senses. It can be understood as an expression or encoding in English. The guiding principle in encoding during the sadharanikaran process is simplification. In the communication process, the complex concepts and ideas are simplified by the speaker (source) with illustrations and idioms appropriate for the understanding of the listeners, the receiver of the messages. This approach makes communication a dynamic, flexible, practical and effective instrument of social relationship and control.
Likewise, code (sanketa) is an integral part of abhivyanjana. A kind of code is a must to let the bhavas be manifest. Codes are symbols that are organised in accordance with specific rules. For example, a language is a code. For communication to be successful, both the sender and receiver must understand the code being used. Abhivyanjana may be in verbal or non-verbal code, and both codes may be used simultaneously. In the case of verbal abhivyanjana, words/languages are used as the code.
With the completion of the process of abhivyanjana, bhavas become sandesha. In other words, sandesha is the outcome of the abhivyanjana process. A message is the manifestation of the bhava into a form (code) that is perceivable by the senses. It is the information that the sender wants to pass on to the receiver. For transmission of sandesha, there is a need for sarani (channel or medium), which is the means through which sandesha travels across space.
The notion of context in the process of communication makes the Hindu concept of communication even more comprehensive. The importance of context is such that due to this factor, meaning can be provided to the message even if the sender is not known to the receiver. Thus, due to the context factor, a text retains its ‘objective’ meaning.
The structure of the model proposed by Adhikary incorporates the notion of a two-way communication process, resulting in mutual understanding of the communicating parties. The SMC seems free from the limitations of linear models of communication. The crucial element in Adhikary’s Sadharanikarn Model is that it sees communication as ‘a spiritual process’.
Persuasion
Contrary to this, the Western communication philosophies emphasise on persuasion by any means. The SMC emphasises that the goal of communication should not be limited to achieving commonness or mutual understanding. Rather, it should be focussed on what Hinduism has always emphasised on achieving - the purushartha chatustayas (i.e., four goals of life: artha, kama, dharma and moksha). The SMC model is capable of attaining all these goals.
It is too early to say how this eastern model of communication fits into the western model of communication. However, the exploration of Adhikary’s understanding and its critique will definitely contribute to a debate on the forceful imposition of Western communication philosophies and their values. The exploration of such a model based on the eastern perspective will undoubtedly contribute to the development of new communication theories.
(Pant can be reached at laxmankasyap@gmail.com)
Monday, November 23, 2009
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