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LOCATION OF RASA
V. M. Kulkarni
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The Natyasāstra of Bharata is the oldest work on aesthetics in Sanskrit. Of all the chapters in this work the sixth chapter on rasa is the most significant as it deals with the theory of literary beauty-the rasa theory. The two traditional verses incorporated in this chapter, numbered 32 and 33, and the prose passage immediately preceding these verses are instructive regarding Bharata's own view about the location of rasa. The traditional verses he cites in support of his views stated in the prose passage : “.. What is it you call rasa ? (Or, what is the meaning of the word rasa ?). We reply : 'it is called rasa because it can be relished. How is rasa relished ? Just as gourmets relish the flavour of food prepared with various spices and obtain pleasure etc., even so sensitive spectators (sumanasah preksakah) relish the dominant or permanent emotions (sthayibhava) manifested or suggested by the acting out of the bhävas (vibhāvas and yyabicărins) and which are presented with the three kinds of dramatic representation, viz., that which uses speech, that which uses the body and that which is sätt vika (involuntary), obtains pleasure, etc. Therefore they are called nätyarasas (dramatic sentiments, sentiments in drama). On this subject there are the following two traditional stanzas :
"As gourmets relish food prepared with various ingredients (of pleasant flavour) and various condiments, so salışdayas (rasikas, lit. people with empathy) enjoy mentally (with a mind completely concentrated) the permanent emotions presented (connected) with their appropriate) vibhāvas, vyabhicăribhävas and anubhāvas." :. From the passage and the stanzas translated above it would seem that Bharata held the view that the permanent emotions are themselves rasas and that they are found in the drama. In other words, according to Bharata's view, it is in the drama itself that rasa is located.
According to Bhatta Lollata's view, that which is known as a permanent emotion (sthayibhava) in its unintensified or undeveloped from becomes intensificd or developed through its union with the vyabhicäri-bhavas, etc., and becomes rasa located in the character that is being portrayed (anukārya). Rasas are called näțyarasas because they are portrayed in drama (Dhvanyalóka (ii) Locana, p. 184), In the Abhinavabhāratt (Vol. I, p. 272) and in the somewhat amplified text of Hemacandra (Käryänufäsäna) this view is
