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Photo: N. Sridharan

In loveShringara is the rasa of love, and love is an emotion that can be conveyed in an infinite variety of ways. Seen here is danseuse Priyadarsini Govind enacting the role of a nayika getting all decked up for her beloved.

Shringara rasa Of all the nine rasas (nava rasas, Learn the Lingo of November 23), Shringara is considered the king. This is partly because shringara is the rasa of love, and love is an emotion that can be conveyed in an infinite variety of ways. And while ‘all the world’ as Shakespeare pointed out, is interested in the twists and turns of the path of true love, there is another reason why love is considered the greatest rasa. It is the only emotion that makes human beings forget the primacy of their own well being. Love makes people strive beyond their physical strength. It can make a person fearless, immeasurably strong, patient, wise and foolhardy too. In dance, it is more often the sublime aspect of shringara that is stressed upon, the quality that makes people rise above selfishness.

Shringara rasa has been and continues to be described and depicted in myriad ways in classical dance. A woman in love has been classified as one of the ashta nayikas (defined in Learn the Lingo earlier). She may be the sole beloved of her chosen one, or she may be one of many, as the gopis were to Krishna. She may be married to him or she may aspire to be with him. She may be married to someone else but be in love with him. This situation applies to Radha and Krishna, considered the ideal couple. Philosophers say that their union that today’s society would consider illicit actually exemplifies not only passion, but a complete equality between the partners, where there is no sense of ownership.

An important aspect to be kept in mind when observing shringara rasa as depicted in Indian literature, music and dance is that it is sometimes used as a metaphor for the longing of the mortal for the immortal, the union of human with divine. In this case, the nayika or heroine is not longing to be united with a mortal hero, but represents the jeevatma (human soul) longing to be reunited with the Creator (Paramatma). Thus, the nayika is not merely a woman but represents all human beings. When confronted by today’s egalitarian approach to language and imagery, this metaphor takes a lot of explaining and gets its share of debate. That said, it should also be noted that dance compositions sometimes also depict the longing of the man for the woman.

Even if it is being seen as a metaphor for a devotional longing, shringara provides great possibilities for dancers to delve into their expressional, storytelling and improvisational capabilities. Certain musical compositions associated with dance, such as padams deal with shringara in thousands of different situations. Other compositions, for example, thumris and the ashtapadis of Jayadeva, are also predominant in this rasa.

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