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(one might say) in this way Rasa is not an object of cognition ( 37972) ! That is what it deserves to be. Rasa, in fact, consists solely of a tasting and has not the nature of an object of cognition, etc. But then why the expression zafas:' in Bharat's Sutra. This expression must be taken to mean the production not of Rasa, but of the tasting of the Rasa. If the expression ofantie is understood in the sense of a production of a Rasa whose subsistence is exclusively dependent on the said tasting, then our view is not affected by that. This tasting is neither the fruit of the operation of the means of cognition nor of the means of action. In fact, in itself, it is not ascertained by any means of knowledge ( 379ATTUTE ), for its real existence is an irrefutable datum of our own consciousness ( Fagacara ). This tasting is undoubtedly a form of cognition, but different from any other ordinary perception. This is because the means of it, i.e., the Vibhāvādi, are of non-ordinary character. To conclude : What is produced by the संयोग or combination of the विभावादि, is the Rasana or tasting; and the Rasa is the non-ordinary reality, which is the matter of this tasting. This is the sense and purport of the Sūtra. A Summary of Abhinava's Exposition
The summary is : in the first place, the identity of the actor as such is concealed by tiaras, headwear, etc.; in the second place, the idea that he is Rama, etc., aroused by the power of the poem, nevertheless, does not succeed in imposing itself upon the idea of the actor, for the latent traces of the said idea are strongly impressed on the spectator's mind. For this very reason, the spectator is no longer living either in the space and time of Rama, etc., nor in the space and time of the actor as such. Horriplation, etc., which have repeatedly been seen by the spectator in the course of everyday life as signs of love, etc., serve, in this case, to make known a love etc., uncircumscribed by either time or space in this love,
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