Indian art evolved with an emphasis on inducing special spiritual or philosophical states in the audience, or with representing them symbolically.

Rasas in the performing arts

The theory of rasas still forms the

aesthetic Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...

underpinning of all Indian classical dance and theatre, such as

Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...

kathak ''Kathak'' is one of the eight major forms of Classical Indian dance, Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as ''Kathakar'' ("storyteller"), who communicated stories from the ...

, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Kudiyattam, Kathakali and others. Expressing ''rasa'' in classical Indian dance form is referred to as ''rasa-abhinaya''. The ''Nātyasāstra'' carefully delineates the '' bhavas'' used to create each ''rasa''. The expressions used in Kudiyattam or Kathakali are extremely exaggerated theatrical expressions. The opposite of this interpretation is Balasaraswathi's school of subtle and understated abhinaya of the devadasis. There were serious public debates when Balasaraswathi condemned Rukmini Devi's puritanistic interpretations and applications of Sringara rasa. The abhinaya of the Melattur style of abhinaya remains extremely rich in variations of the emotions, while the Pandanallur style expressions are more limited in scope.

History

Natyashastra

Rasa theory blossoms beginning with the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

text Nātyashāstra (''nātya'' meaning "drama" and ''shāstra'' meaning "science of"), a work attributed to Bharata Muni where the Gods declare that drama is the 'Fifth Veda' because it is suitable for the degenerate age as the best form of religious instruction. The Nātyashāstra presents the aesthetic concepts of rasas and their associated bhāvas in chapters six and seven respectively, which appear to be independent of the work as a whole. Eight rasas and associated bhāvas are named and their enjoyment is likened to savoring a meal: rasa is the enjoyment of flavors that arise from the proper preparation of ingredients and the quality of ingredients.

Kashmiri aestheticians

The theory of the rasas develops significantly with the Kashmiri aesthetician Ãnandavardhana's classic on poetics, the Dhvanyāloka which introduces the ninth rasa, shānta-rasa as a specifically religious feeling of peace (''śānta'') which arises from its bhāva, weariness of the pleasures of the world. The primary purpose of this text is to refine the literary concept ''dhvani'' or poetic suggestion, by arguing for the existence of ''rasa-dhvani'', primarily in forms of Sanskrit including a word, sentence or whole work "suggests" a real-world emotional state or bhāva, but thanks to aesthetic distance, the sensitive spectator relishes the rasa, the aesthetic flavor of tragedy, heroism or romance. The 9th - 10th century master of the religious system known as "the nondual Shaivism of Kashmir" (or Kashmir Shaivism) and aesthetician, Abhinavagupta brought rasa theory to its pinnacle in his separate commentaries on the Dhvanyāloka, the Dhvanyāloka-locana (translated by Ingalls, Masson and Patwardhan, 1992) and the Abhinavabharati, his commentary on the Nātyashāstra, portions of which are translated by Gnoli and Masson and Patwardhan. Abhinavagupta offers for the first time a technical definition of rasa which is the universal bliss of the Self or Atman colored by the emotional tone of a drama.

Inclusion of bhakti

In the literary compositions, the emotion of bhakti as a feeling of adoration towards God was long considered only a minor feeling fit only for stotras, but not capable of being developed into a separate rasa as the sole theme of a whole poem or drama. In the tenth century, it was still struggling, and Abhinavagupta mentions bhakti in his commentary on the

Natya Shastra The ''Nāṭya Shāstra'' (, ''Nāṭyaśāstra'') is a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts. The text is attributed to sage Bharata, and its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary b ...

, as an important accessory sentiment of the shanta rasa, which he strove with great effort to establish. However, just as shanta slowly attained a state of primacy that it was considered the rasa of sasas, bhakti also soon began to loom large and despite the lukewarmness of the great run of alankarikas, had the service of some distinguished advocates, including Tyagaraja. It is the Bhagavata that gave the great impetus to the study of bhakti from an increasingly aesthetic point of view.

Attention to rasas

Poets like Kālidāsa were attentive to rasa, which blossomed into a fully developed aesthetic system. Even in contemporary India the term ''rasa'' denoting "flavor" or "essence" is used colloquially to describe the aesthetic experiences in films.

The Navarasas

Bharata Muni enunciated the eight rasas in the ''

Nātyasāstra The ''Nāṭya Shāstra'' (, ''Nāṭyaśāstra'') is a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts. The text is attributed to sage Bharata (sage), Bharata, and its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but e ...

'', an ancient Sanskrit text of

dramatic theory Dramatic theory attempts to form theories about theatre and drama. Drama is defined as a form of art in which a written play is used as basis for a performance. Dramatic theory is studied as part of theatre studies. Drama creates a sensory impre ...

and other performance arts, written between 200 BC and 200 AD. In the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n performing arts, a ''rasa'' is a sentiment or emotion evoked in each member of the audience by the art. The ''Natya Shastra'' mentions six rasa in one section, but in the dedicated section on ''rasa'' it states and discusses eight primary ''rasa''. Each rasa, according to Nātyasāstra, has a presiding deity and a specific colour. There are 4 pairs of rasas. For instance, Hāsya arises out of Sringara. The Aura of a frightened person is black, and the aura of an angry person is red. Bharata Muni established the following: * (शृङ्गारः): Romance, Love, attractiveness. Presiding deity:

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

. Colour: light green * (हास्यं): Laughter, mirth, comedy. Presiding deity:

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

. Colour: white * (रौद्रं): Fury. Presiding deity:

. Colour: red * (कारुण्यं): Compassion, mercy. Presiding deity: Yama. Colour: grey * (बीभत्सं): Disgust, aversion. Presiding deity:

. Colour: blue * (भयानकं): Horror, terror. Presiding deity: Yama. Colour: black * (वीरं): Heroism. Presiding deity:

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

. Colour: saffron * (अद्भुतं): Wonder, amazement. Presiding deity:

Brahma Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...

. Colour: yellow

Śāntaṃ rasa

A ninth rasa was added by later authors. This addition had to undergo a good deal of struggle between the sixth and the tenth centuries, before it could be accepted by the majority of the Alankarikas, and the expression "''Navarasa''" (the nine rasas), could come into vogue. *: Peace or tranquility. deity:

. Colour: perpetual white. Shānta-rasa functions as an equal member of the set of rasas, but it is simultaneously distinct as being the most clear form of aesthetic bliss. Abhinavagupta likens it to the string of a jeweled necklace; while it may not be the most appealing for most people, it is the string that gives form to the necklace, allowing the jewels of the other eight rasas to be relished. Relishing the rasas and particularly shānta-rasa is hinted as being as-good-as but never-equal-to the bliss of Self-realization experienced by yogis.

References

Works cited

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External links

Rasa (sentiments)
an

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