Rasa -- The Key Concept of Classical Indian Aesthetics Indian classical drama is organized according to rasa as much as according

to plot. Imagine that you are watching a monster movie or a slasher film. You are definitely scared. owever! is the fear you are feeling the same as if you were really in that situation" #ost people would say! $no.$ The same could %e said of the erotic feeling you get when watching a romantic comedy -- it is not &uite the same as when you are alone together with your %oyfriend or girlfriend. These fictionalized emotions which we e'perience through poetry and art are called rasa Aristotle was getting at this idea when he tal(ed a%out the emotions of pity and fear as essential to tragedy. The Indian theoretician )harata! however! went much further! positing eight $sta%le$ rasas and ** $transient$ ones+ ,. -ros .. The comic *. /rief 0. Rage 1. eroism 2. 3ear 4. 5isgust 6. 7onder 8Amazement9 7e won:t worry a%out the transient emotions. Rasa--roughly translated+ $emotive aesthetics$--is the most important concept in classical Indian aesthetics! having pervasive influence in theories of painting! sculpture! dance! poetry! and drama. The rasa theory see(s its principle of definition of literature! not in any peculiarity of the linguistic medium! or in any special semantics of poetry! %ut in the (ind of meaning that literature purports to communicate. It argues that the presentation of emotions is the proper o%;ect and domain of poetic discourse.. The emotions presented are not to %e e&uatedRasa is thus the ultimate criterion of literariness. <iterature is not! in the ultimate analysis! a type of language use %ut a type of meaning--emotive meaning. The most valua%le contri%ution of the rasa theory to literary criticism is its emphasis on the conte't of meaning %eing the determinant of style. Rasa cuts across generic %oundaries. Rasa = $aesthetic relish$ Rasa is the relisha%le &uality inherent in an artistic wor(--its emotive content. -very wor( is supposed to treat an emotive theme and to communicate a distinct emotional flavor or mood 8tragic! comic! erotic! etc.9 Rasa= the art of emotion! contemplative en;oyment of $universalized$ emotion. Rasa as used %y Chari most generally signfies $the poetic emotion$--a supramundane e'perience! &uite distinct from ordinary modes of (nowledge. -motions have their logic+ 8)harata - si'th century9 ,9 -motions are manifested in poetry %y a com%ination of situational factors. In drama! this can include event! character! language! lighting! costume! gesture! music! etc. .9 There is a specific num%er of emotions.

*9 >ome emotions are permanent! irreduci%le mental states! while other are fugitive and dependent. 09 A poetic composition is an organization of various feeling tones! %ut it invaria%ly su%ordinates the wea(er tones to a dominant e'pression 19 3eeling tones are %rought together in a poem! not indiscriminately! %ut according to a logic of congruity and propriety. -motions are caused %y their o%;ects! manifested %y their e'pressions! and nourished %y other ancillary feelings. The rasa theory implies that there are a num%er of specific emotions! each with its distinct tone or flavor. ?oetic wor(s treat a specific num%er of emotions as their su%;ect matter. ?sychic states! attitudes! and reactions are the stuff of poetry! their representational content. There are nine %asic 8primary! dura%le9 emotional states 80, altogether9+ erotic love@ comic laughter@ grief@ fury@ heroic spirit@ fear@ wonder@ revulsion or disgust@ and &uietude or serenity. Anly these %asic emotions can %e developed into distinct aesthetic moods. Rasa is concerned with the effect which poetry and theater produce on the readerBspectator. The >ans(rit critics spea( of art as an o%;ect of en;oyment rather than as a medium for transmitting inspired visions of ultimate reality. Aesthetic e'perience is simply the apprehension of the created wor( as delight! and the pleasure principle cannot %e separated from aesthetic contemplation. This delight is regarded as its own end and as having no immediate relation to the practical concerns of the world or to the pragmatic aims of moral improvement or spiritual salvation. The language of feelings is not a private language@ it is more a system of sym%ols! a language game that is understood %y those who have learned its conventions and usages. -motions treated in a poem are neither the pro;ections of the reader:s own mental states nor the private feelings of the poet@ rather! they are the o%;ective situations a%iding in the poem as its cognitive content. Rasa is understood as residing in the situational factors presented in an appropriate language. A poet chooses a theme %ecause he sees a certain promise for developing its emotional possi%ilities and e'ploits it %y dramatizing its details. The representational emotion! or rasa! is the meaning of the poetic sentence. The rasa e'perience %rings its own validity and does not demand any e'ternal proof %y other means of (nowledge. The sensitive reader who apprehends the emotive situation does not do so in a neutral frame of mind %ut is drawn into it owing to the power of sympathy. 7e e'perience the mood as a vi%ration of the heart. It is not enough that emotions are inferred in others or that emotive meanings are understood from words of the poem in the way that factual statements are understood@ they must also %e found delecta%le. Atherwise! there would %e little incentive to contemplate a wor( of art! much less to see( a repetition of that e'perience. ?oetic apprehension is a form of feeling response %ecause it induces a repeated contemplation of the o%;ect. 7hen an emotion is rendered delecta%le through a representation of its appropriate conditions in poetry! it attains rasahood. Rasa theory would %e opposed to a purely cognitive view that argues that poetry is a mode of (nowledge and contemplated as a pattern of (nowledge and that valid cognitive (nowledge rather than emotional thrills is the proper aim and mode of e'istence of poetry. 3or rasa! poetry mirrors the psychic states that are already (nown to us and dramatizes them or presents them as something e'perienced--a type of recognitive (nowledge! %ecause it most generally presents what we have already (nown %efore %ut would li(e to e'perience again. Rasa theorists see no harm in admitting that poetic presentations! %eing emotive statements! can and do also arouse feeling responses in the readers and that these responses are felt as a vi%ration in the consciousness. The poet! te't! and reader are all %ound together in a common matri'. This assumption is vital to any conception of emotive aesthetics--

affective reference. The values a poem communicates are emotive not cognitive. 7hat is the relevance of $affective reference$ to critical discourse" It is easier to define the nature and type of a discourse %y its conte't than %y its linguistic form. It is in these terms that the rasa theory conceives of the nature of literature. the purpose of literary discourse is neither the statement of universal truths nor the prompting of men to action! %ut $evocation.$ In poetry! %oth words and meanings directly contri%ute to the aim of rasa evocation are su%ordinated to that activity. Co poetic meaning su%sists without rasa. >ince the evocative function is thus a necessary condition of all language that deserves the designation of poetry! it follows that all elements found in poetry! such as ideas! images! figures! and structural features are su%servient to this function. 3igure! meter! rhyme! and plot do not rest in themsleves since they can %e understood only through rasa! which is the final resting point of all poetic discourse. The delineation of emotions depends not on any special linguistic operation or structuring %ut on there %eing an emotive situation. In literature! the presented emotions are generalized and freed from all particularities of time! place! and person so that the reader will view them in a detached frame of mind.