Some Aspects of Rasa Theory

Author(s): V M Kulkarni
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

Page 63

WORLDLY NATURE OF RASA
51
character as suggested in Lollața also. Some quotations from Śr-Pra. will support our observation. Bhoja says : (1) Rasas are pleasurable and painful. They are seen in sentient beings and not in literature which consists of word and meaning and thus lacks sentience. (2) There are three classes of Figures (1) Vakrokti (Striking, Deviating Expression) (2) Svabhāvokti (Natural Description) and (3) Rasokti (Portrayal of Rasa). Vakrokti is present when Figures like simile predominate; Svabhāvokti is present when Qualities like ślesa predominate; and Rasokti is present when Rasa arises out of the combination of the determinants, consequents, and concomitants. The determinants are of two kinds: fundamental (alambana) and excitant (uddipana). Of these two the fundamental determinants are meant to be seen as favourable or unfavourable... 23
While explaining raudrarasa-nispatti from krodha, Bhoja observes : (Anger) when accompanied by the concomitants of Jealousy, Trembling, Labour etc; which are painful in nature, rises to the level of the Furious when intensified.30
Dr. Raghvan (p. 449) further observes: “It was the sthāyin itself that got the name rasa. Says Bharata : Thus these permanent emotions should be known as rasas.'
So it is, says Sankuka, that in the Rasa-nispatti-sūtra the word 'sthayin' is not found. It is merely the sthāyin of the world that is called rasa when imitated. Dandin and Lollața applied the name rasa to the sthāyin itself when it (is) samyukta, puşta or prakrsta or udrikta by means of vibhāvas etc. Says Bahurūpa-Miśra in his commentary on the Dasarūpaka : 'Thus then (rasa) is a particular state of permanent emotion itself. 'Bhoja followed these writers. He has not got two different departments as laukika and alaukika.”31
We cannot accept Dr. Raghavan's last statement in the above quotation for when Bhoja follows this group of writers, the laukikatva of rasa in the madhyamavasthā follows as a logical corollary.
29. (1) रसा हि सुखदुःखावस्थारूपाः । ते च शरीरिणां चैतन्यवतां, न काव्यस्य । तस्य शब्दार्थरूपतया अचेतनत्वेन ।
Dr. V. Raghavan: Bhoja's śrgara Prakāśa, Third Revised Enlarged Edition, Madras, 1978, P. 423 २. त्रिविधः खल्वलङ्कारवर्ग:-वक्रोक्तिः, स्वभावोक्तिः, रसोक्तिरिति । तत्रोपमाद्यलङ्कारप्राधान्ये वक्रोक्तिः,
लेषादिगुणप्राधान्ये स्वभावोक्तिः, विभावानुभावव्यभिचारिसंयोगात्तु रसनिष्पत्तौ रसोक्तिरिति । तत्र द्विविधो विभावः, आलम्बनविभाव उद्दीपनविभावश्च । तयोरालम्बनविभाव इष्टानिष्टसंदर्शनादिः। यमालम्ब्य सुखं दुःखं ateqaa aa gagafaringHTOH FARVET: #FFIT TO .................. ga ceffaaraat जिहासितस्य चाहानात् दुःखात्मकैर्व्यभिचारिभिश्चिन्तीत्सुक्यवेगनिर्वेदादिभिः संसृज्यमानो दुःखात्मकविप्रलम्भशृङ्गारादि रसरूपतामध्यास्ते ।। G. R. Josyer : Maharaja Bhojaraja's Sringara Prakasha, Second Volume, Mysore, 1963,
PP. 438-39 30. raraquareg Tang T IRE 9 Gaua TA19# Forea......
(Ibid, P. 440) 31. ---Dr. Raghavan: Bhoja's śrngāra Prakāśa, Third Revised Enlarged Edition, P. 449