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Photo: S. Thanthoni

In fury The aesthetic theory of rasa divides human experience into nine basic states, one of which is raudra (anger) as exemplified by Bharatanatyam danseuse Purvadhanashree here.

Rasa:Although the concept of ‘rasa’ pervades aesthetic theory and can be found in the study of Indian music, painting, sculpture, literature and other arts, this discussion and the explanations of individual rasas and related concepts in the weeks to follow will focus on the theory as applied to Indian classical dance.

Literally translated, the Sanskrit word ‘rasa’ means flavour, juice or essence. It can be explained as the essence of emotion or the pervasive flavour of a situation. The aesthetic theory of rasa categorises human experience into nine basic states or sentiments. These are the nine rasas: shringara (love), hasya (humour), karuna (sorrow), raudra (anger), bhayanaka (fear), vibhatsa (disgust), vira (valour), adbhuta (wonder) and shanta (peace). Each of these rasas is characterised by a permanent state and various transient states. For example, in the rasa of sorrow, even though the permanent state is grief, transient phases of anger, hope, fear, love, etc., might pass through the protagonist’s mind.

In the Natya Shastra, considered the most ancient extant source for the study of Indian aesthetics, the legendary author Bharatamuni has spoken of only eight rasas. This is because he does not include shanta as one of the basic sentiments. This ninth rasa was incorporated by later scholars, and the concept of the nine rasas or navarasa became fixed in the cultural memory of the region. Some do dispute the technical propriety of including shanta or peace as a rasa on the grounds that its nature is stillness and objectivity, whereas the other eight rasas are produced by deviating from the neutral centre. Some also say the eight others eventually subside into the ninth, which is peace. Dancers, though, rarely get into these wrangles, and a number of dance compositions feature all the nine rasas in a series. This approach gives dancers ample scope to display their emotive and storytelling skills.

One of the well known ways of illustrating the nine rasas is to take examples from the life of Ram. When Ram sees Sita, he experiences love or shringara. At Ravana’s treachery he is filled with anger or raudra. The loss of Sita fills him with sorrow, and so on. There is a similar verse about Parvati, who experiences shringar when she is with Shiva, fear when she sees the serpents round his body, hasya with her friends, anger when someone speaks ill of Shiva, and so on. The different verses reflect the imagination of the poets.

The Natya Shastra and other works on aesthetics do not stop at classifying human emotional states. These are passed on to the spectators as vicarious experience. In simple terms, it could be said that when the spectators forget they are watching a performance and feel the effect of the action – as for example, getting a lump in the throat, or feeling fearful for the safety of the characters on stage, or becoming angry at the villain – then rasa has been created. Though these rasas may be negative in nature, the ultimate experience is joy, since the experience is vicarious. The joy known as rasaananda (bliss of experiencing rasa) is akin to Brahmananda (the bliss of knowing God), so the shastras say. Thus the very purpose of art, the shastras tell us, is to create rasa. It puts a double responsibility on artistes, because to achieve it, an artiste has to ‘forget the little self’. It is a tall order, considering dancers spend a lot of time concentrating on their own body, perfecting movements and working towards a tangible goal. On stage however, they are expected, ideally, to be able to forget the physical self and take the audience beyond it too.

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