Theor

yof'
Rasa'
*

Natyashast r
aisananci entIndiandi scour seont heatr
ewi t
hdet ailsaboutperformingar t
s,theatri
cal
techniques,danceandmusi c.Itisbel i
ev edt ohav ebeenwr i
tt
endur ingtheper i
odbet ween200BC
and200ADi nclassicalIndiaandi sat t
ributedtot heSageBhar ata.Thewor kisanel aboratet r
eatise
ondr amat i
ccriti
cism andact ingev erwr it
teninanyl anguageandi sregardedast heol destsur vi
ving
textonst agecraftint hewor l
d.Bhar at ai nhisNat yashastr
adi scussescomponent sorconst i
tuent
element sofev eryaspectofst agecr aftandt hei
ref f
ectsonhumanmi ndwhilstcoveringar easlike
music,st age-design,makeup,danceandv i
rtual
lyev er
yaspectofdr ama.Wi t
hi tst heoreti
cal
approachandwi derscope,t heNat yashast rahasaddedar emar kabl
edi mensiont othegr owt hand
developmentofI ndiancl assicalmusi c,classicaldance, dr
amaandar t.Asregardsdr amaor‘ Natya’
,
Bharatapr ovi
desext ensiv
edescr iptionaboutt hegenr esofdr ama,pl otstr
ucture,Char actersand
thei
rt ypesanddoct rineofbhav aandr asa.

Thesi gnif
icantcont ributionoft hi
shi storicwor ki st het heor yof‘ Rasa’whi chcanbe
under stoodasady nami cexper iencebet weent hear tist( thecr eator ),thear t
ist
icexpr essi on( the
wor kofar t)
,andt hosewhor eceiveit(t
heaudi ence) .Thear t
istex per i
encesanemot ionandi sso
ov er
whel medbyi tt hatheseeksamedi um wi t
hwhi cht oexpr esst hosef eel
ings.Thespect at
oror
theaudi encev iewingt heartists’wor kreceivest hisemot iont hrought hear t
ist’
smedi um andt hus
experiencet hesameemot i
onf eltbythecr eator .Theex tentt owhi cht hev i
ewerexper iencest he
emot ionf eltbyt hecr eator,dependsonbot ht hecr eat or’ssensi bil
it
yi npr esentingt hewor kandt he
viewer s’culturaltr
ai ningtor eceiv ei
t.Accordingt oBhar at a,“Rasai ssocal ledbecausei tiscapabl e
ofbei ngt asted( asv advate).”A par ti
cularst ateofmi ndgi v
esr i
set oanaest het icr elishwhi ch
emer gesf rom t hecombi nationofv ari
ousemot i
onalf act ors.Accor dingt ohim,“ Justaswel l
-
disposedper sonswhi l
eeat ingf ood,cookedwi thmanyki ndsofspi ces,enj oy( asv aday anti
)t he
tastes,andat tai
npl easureandsat isf
act i
on,sot hecul turedpeopl et ast ethedomi nantst ates
(Sthay i
bhav as)ast heyobser vet hem beingrepr esentedbyanex pressi onoft hev ariousst ateswi th
wor ds, gesturesandt emper amentandder iv
epl easureandsat i
sfaction. ”

Rasasigni
fi
esaesthet
icpleasureort het
hri
llofjoyinvar
iabl
yaccompany i
ngaskilf
ulenact
mentofa
play,r
ender
edhighlyappeali
ngt hroughexcell
entpoet r
y,musicandact i
on.”Fi
nall
y,i
ntheworkof
BharatMuni,
theword‘rasa’camet oconnotehighesttasteordi
vineexperi
enceaccompaniedwi
tha
senseofsupremedeli
ght.Itwasi nt
endedtoequat ethepleasur
eofpoetryorotherfor
msofartwit
h
divi
nebli
ss.

Ast ot henumberofRasa,Bhar ataacknowl edgesonl yei ghtki nds-“ astaunat y

ar asahsmr tah.
”
Accor dingt ohi m, thereareei ghtf undament alfeel
i
ngsorment alst atesreferredt oasSt hayibhavas
whi chcanbeexper iencedbyhumanbei ngs.Thesear e:Del ight( Rat i
),Laught er(Hasy a)
,sor row
(Soka) ,Anger( Krodha) ,Heroism ( Utsaha) ,Fear(Bhaya),Di sgust( Jugupsa) ,andwonder( Vismay a)
.
Cor respondi ngt ot hesement alst at
esar eeightRasas:t heEr otic( srngara),theComi c(Hasy a)the
Pat het i
c( Karuna) ,theFur ious( Raudr a),theHer oic( Vir
a) ,theTer rible(Bhay anaka) ,theOdi ous
(Bibhat asa),andt heMar vel
ous( Adbhut a).TheseRasasar iseoutoff ourbasi coror i
ginalones.Thus,
theComi carisesf rom theEr oti
c, thePat heticfrom t
heTer ribl
e, t
heSubl imef rom theHer oicandt he
Hor riblef rom t heOdi ous.Bhar ataal soassi gnscol oursandpr esidingdei tiest otheseRasas-t he
erotici slightgr een,t hecomi cwhi te,thepat heti
cash- col oured,t het erri
bler ed,theher oiclight
-
orange, t
hehor ri
blebl ack,t
heodi ousbl ueandf inal
ly,thesubl imei sy el
low.Vi shnuist heGodoft he
‘
Eroti
c’,Pramathas(theGanasoft
heMahadeva)ofthe‘
Comic’,Rudr
aofthe‘Terr
ibl
e’
,Yamaofthe
‘
Pathetic’
,Siv
aoft he‘Odi
ous’
,Kal
adev
aofthe‘Horr
ibl
e’
,Indr
aoft he‘Her
oic’
,andthe‘
Brahman’i
s
t
hepr esidi
ngdeityofthe‘
Subl
ime’
.

Ani nthrasa-shant
aorshant am (peace)suggestedbyper pet
ualwhi tecolourwithVishnuast he
presidi
ngdei t
y-wasaddedbyl ateraut hors.Thisaddit
ionresultedi nagr eatdealofdebat es
amongstt heSanskri
tschol
arsbetweent hesi x
thandthetent
hcent uri
es.Itwasfir
stacceptedbythe
Alankari
kas,andtheexpressi
onNav arasa( theni
nerasas)camei ntov ogue.I
nadditi
ont othenine
Rasas, t
womor er
asashavebeenaddedl aterwit
hnoclearspecif
icati
onaboutt hepresidi
ngdeit
ies
andt hecolour
s.

Themostsi gni
fi
cantt
hingabouttheRasaist
hatit
sreali
sati
onensuesfr
om theuni
onofthr
ee
i
nterr
elat
edelements–Vibhava,Anubhav
aandVyabhi
chari
bhavaandalsotheper
manentmood
cal
ledSthay
ibhava.

Vibhava(det
erminants)i
sthemeansbywhi chanemot i
onisev oked.Therearetwoki ndsofVi bhav a:
theAlambhanaVi bhavaandt heUddipanaVibhava.Thef i
rstrelatestothepersonort heobj ectin
respectofwhom t heemotionisexperi
encedandwhoseappear anceisdir
ectl
yr esponsiblefort he
evocati
onoft heemot i
on,whil
ethesecondr ef
erstot hesituati
oni ntheenvi
ronmenti nwhi cht hat
personorobjecti
splacedandwhi chi
sinstrument
al i
nintensif
yingt heemoti
onalexperience.

Anubhavas( consequence)i st
heout wardmanif
estati
onsbroughtf
orthasar esultoftheVibhav
as.
Thesearedi visibl
eintoVachika-thosewhichcanbeexpr essedbywor ds(Vach- speech)andthe
Angikawhi char eexpressedbybodi lyexpr
essi
ons.InIndiandrama,forexampl e,theAnubhavas
communi catet otheaudiencetheemot i
onsbei
ngfeltbyt
hecharacter
sont hestage.

Ther e are al
so “i
nvol
untary emot
ions”known as Satt
vikabhav
as:St ambha (paral
ysi
s),Sveta
(sweat i
ng),Romancha(hairst
andi
ngonend),Sv
arabheta(changesinone’stoneofvoice)
,Vepathu
(trembling)
,Vaiv
arnya(changesinthecol
ourofone’sface),Asru(becomingtearf
ul)andPralaya
(faint
ing).

TheSthayi
bhava(per
manentmood)i samaj
oremot
ionwhichi
sdevel
opedbyanumberofmi
nor
feel
i
ngsref
erredt
oasVyabichar
ibhav
aswhi
char
ethi
rt
ythr
eeinnumber
s.

Bharat
a’sRasat heoryhasbeensemi nalinthesensei tinfl
uencedBhat t
anayaka'
sconceptof
Sadharani
karan,t
heconceptofSahr
idayat
aandtheDhv aniconcept.I
tisalsotheunifyi
ngprinci
ple
ofthebeginni
ng,themiddl
eandtheendoftheent
ir
eIndianpoetics.I
tprov
idesa‘synaesthsi
s’ofart
,
phi
losophyandpsy chol
ogyi
nfor
mulati
ngapropercri
ti
cal-
cum-aestheti
cperspect
ive.

………………………………. .
(*Theabove'writ
e-up'isbasedon" Lesson"f
orM.
A.Engl
i
sh,Nal
andaOpenUni
ver
sit
yPat
na,
prepar
edbyme).Avoidcopy
ingword-
by-word)

Gl
ossar
yofcr
it
ical
ter
ms

1.Aest
het
ics :
thephi
l
osophyoff
inear
tswhi
chseemst
omeanat
heor
yoft
he‘
beaut
if
ul’
ingener
al,
whet
heri
nar
tori
nnat
ure

2.Anubhav
as :
Gest
ures

3.Rasa :
theaest
het
icexper
ience,
whi
chconst
it
utest
hequi
ntessenceofev
eryper
for
mingar
t.

4.Rasi
ka :
Aschol
arorconnoi
sseurofar
tissomet
imesr
efer
redt
oasar
asi
ka.

5.Sadhar
ani
kar
an:
Thepr
ocessofgener
ali
zat
ionort
ranscendence

6.Samaj
i
ka :
Spect
ator
s

7.St
hay
ibhav
a:Basi
cment
alst
ate

8.Vi
bhav
a :
Dramat
icsi
tuat
ions

9.Vyabhi
charis:Tr
ansitor
yemot ions
.
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