prasanga

Prasanga (प्रसंग) is a word of Sanskrit origin meaning occasion, circumstance, or context. In classical and contemporary usage, it denotes the particular matter or event under consideration, or the narrative episode in a text.

In Sanskrit literature, prasanga can indicate a specific incident within a story or an example used to illustrate a point. It is also used to signal a digression or a contextual reference within discourse. Across modern Indian languages, the term is retained with similar senses. In Hindi, Marathi, and Bengali, prasanga refers to an occasion, matter, or circumstance; it can also mean a topic or subject of discussion. The expression is commonly found in formal or literary registers.

Usage notes: In scholarly Sanskrit texts, prasanga is often discussed in relation to rhetorical devices and narrative structure, where a prasanga serves as a unit within a larger composition. The term is versatile, capable of signaling both a concrete event in a narrative and a broader contextual matter in discourse.

Related terms include sandarbha (context) and avsar (occasion). The word is typically transliterated as prasanga or prasaṅga, and its precise shade of meaning can vary with the linguistic and literary context.