Ashta Nayikas and Dance Forms (study)
by V. Dwaritha | 2013 | 71,711 words
This page relates 鈥榗oncept of Rasa (essence)鈥� of the study dealing with the Ashta-Nayikas鈥攁 classification of eight kinds of 鈥淗eroines鈥� representing the eight emotional states (avastha) employed in the classical Indian dance and performing arts (otherwise known as Natya Shastra). These Ashtanayikas reflect the eight types of romantic relationships and have hence formed the expressive subject of many classical painting, poems and dramatic plays.
Go directly to: Footnotes.
Part 1 - The concept of Rasa (essence)
Rasa (literally meaning juice or essence) is the aesthetic bliss experienced by a 蝉补丑峁沝补测补 at the end of a piece of art. Rasa is the essence of a piece of work. Abhinavagupta declares that there can be no poetry without Rasa (na hi tacch奴nya峁� 办腻惫测补峁� 办颈帽肠颈诲 asti) because all poetry lives through rasa (rasenaiva 蝉补谤惫补峁� j墨vati k膩vyam).[1] Rasa is the most enjoyable core of a work of art. It is the legacy of any art (including but not limited to poetry, drama, music, painting and dance). 鈥楾he relish of Rasa is supposed to be an extraordinary bliss, not to be likened to ordinary pain or pleasure and the mind is so entirely lost in it that even when the sentiment of grief or horror is relished in such a state, pain is never felt, and even when it is felt it is a pleasurable pain.鈥�[2]
Bharata defines the birth of Rasa as the culmination of 惫颈产丑腻惫补 (cause), 补苍耻产丑腻惫补 (resultant) and vyabhic膩ri bh膩va (transitory moods):
啶掂た啶ぞ啶掂ぞ啶ㄠ啶ぞ啶掂さ啷嵿く啶た啶氞ぞ啶班た啶膏啶啶椸ぞ啶︵啶班じ啶ㄠた啶粪啶い啷嵿い啶苦 啷�
vibh膩v膩nubh膩vavyabhic膩risa峁儁og膩drasani峁atti岣� |[3]
Rasa is the innate bliss in oneself that manifests itself even in the absence of external aids to happiness. Rasa is born from the feelings ever-present in the artist.
These lines say the greatness of Rasa or aesthetics鈥�
鈥淲hat is significant in the classic Indian treatment of aesthetics is the process of impersonalization or universalization which dissociates the natural or mundane emotion from the particular character and specific situation so that it is relished simply as abstract, aesthetic sentiment in the supramundane (alaukika) plane.鈥�[4]
Rasa is the chief contribution of 厂补峁僺办峁泃补 writers to the world of aesthetics. The dominant emotion is objectified to enjoy as an ideal content.
The process of Rasa is well explained in the following lines:
鈥�Rasa is achieved in the viewer because the dominant emotion is freed from the unpleasant effects which would attend such an emotion in everyday life. The feelings of everyday life are recollected and lived through again, but at another level. They become generalized, and do not belong to anyone. This process leads, in its most profound form, to a state of ecstasy Rasa theory does not depend on the belief that ultimate reality is determinant, but rather on the belief that it is indeterminate鈥�[5]
Though, Bharata mentions only eight rasas. 艢腻苍迟补 rasa including, it is now popularly nine in number and known as the 鈥�Navarasa鈥�. They are鈥�
Among these, 鈥�艢峁涐箙驳腻谤补鈥�, the 鈥榮entiment of love鈥� is considered the 鈥�搁补蝉补谤腻箩补鈥�.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
[2]:
Ibid., 52.
[3]:
Bharata, 狈腻峁瓂补艣腻蝉迟谤补: text with introduction, English translation and indices in four volumes., trans. Narayanan P Unni (Delhi: Nag Publ., 1998), VI. xxxiv. 158.
[4]:
Radhakamal Mukerjee, 鈥溾�楻asas鈥� as Springs of Art in Indian Aesthetics,鈥� The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 24, no. 1 (1965): 91鈥�96.
[5]:
鈥�Naive Realism in Philosophy of Literature鈥� 43, no. 1, Philosophy Today (1999), www.questia.com.